inFAMOUS 6: The Vicious
by WhiteZephyr
Summary: Kayce Grey's Conduit powers have emerged, and she's sent by her mother and father to a school for Conduits. But troubles soon emerge for the young Conduit, as she finds herself in a desperate struggle to find a crazed mastermind before it's too late...
1. Prologue

inFAMOUS 6:

The Vicious

Prologue

My back hit the tree, and then he was on me. His hand squeezed around my throat and kept one of my arms pinned to my side. I struggled to breathe as he smiled and then pressed his lips against mine.

I tried to scream, but I was running out of air. He took his mouth away and sighed in exasperation.

"God, I never imagined you'd taste this good!" he gasped, and licked his lips. "It's too damn bad that you didn't—."

He was ripped off of me and thrown nearly ten feet away. My knees buckled and I hit the forest's ground, coughing to get some air in my lungs and holding my throat gently with my hands.

I heard him get up. "_You_!" he growled.

I was terrified as I heard them start to fight. The sound of flesh hitting flesh and bones breaking made me want to curl up and pretend I didn't exist. Here I was, a fear Conduit, a person who became stronger off of others' fear, and I was completely helpless. The only fear was my own.

He was hurled into the tree and fell on top of me. He angrily picked me up and put a knife to my throat.

"Don't fucking move!" he screamed, and started to back away from my rescuer. "I'll slit her throat if you do!"

The only one who was afraid was me.


	2. Travel by Train

Chapter One:

Travel by Train

To say I was exhausted was an understatement. I wanted so badly to shut my eyes, but I couldn't. Not because I was being forced, but because of everyone talking. I could only sleep in silence, and this was far from it.

Trish MacGrath elbowed me gently in the ribs. "Aren't you excited, Kayce?"

I grunted in response.

She grinned. "It's not that bad, y'know. What's buggin' you?"

"Just a bit irked that I'm starting at a new school without any of my old friends, I guess," I muttered disdainfully.

"Never been the new kid then, huh?" Trish asked.

I shook my head.

Violet Chance came into our little box in the train and sat down with a long, heaving sigh. Her long black hair sprung out because of the static as she did, because the seats were leather.

"There's either too much estrogen or testosterone on this damned train," she muttered. "I can't walk to the bathroom without boys yelling or girls giggling so loudly that I want to take an axe to their heads."

I knew how she felt.

I was worried about where I'd be going. I'd never been to the Academy for the Gifted before (which was a ironic name for it), and I'd never dreamed of attending. Trish had already been there for a year, and I knew she was a Conduit, but it had worried me when I started high school that I'd share that gene. A week ago, when my mom had saved me from these two creeps trying to kill me named Alden and Sasha, my worst fears were realized.

Mom, surprisingly, was totally cool about it, as if she knew it was going to happen. She'd explained that she was a Conduit (dad wasn't), and that my cousin Violet was one too. So, a week after the normal, Human schools started, I was now on a train headed for the Conduit Academy, as it was commonly referred to.

Trish laughed at us. "You two're gloomy for nothing! This'll be the best thing that's ever happened to you! You'll see!"

And with that, Trish left the room. Mom told me to refer to Trish as my cousin, but I didn't have a clue how she was really related to me. When I'd asked, mom just smiled and said, "It's complicated." I really had no doubt that it was.

"Wanna grab something' to eat?" Vi asked me.

I nodded. "Sure. Maybe I'll just grab a pop though."

Vi shrugged and led me to the dining cart, where a few kids were laughing and hanging out. It reminded me of my friends back in New Marias, but we were definitely more… Human. Or, at least, they were.

Vi and I slid into a booth only a space away from the other Conduits and ordered what we wanted when the waiter came. I paid, since I wanted Vi to save her money for a souvenir from the academy. She got a souvenir from everywhere she went, so I wanted to make sure her tradition kept on going.

"It makes me wonder…" Vi mumbled as she spun the straw of her Pepsi around.

"What?" I asked.

Vi's eyes came back to the present. I guess she thought she was talking in her head. "Eh? You heard that?"

"What makes you wonder?" I pressed.

Vi bit her lip. "Well… your mom's Joan Grey, Trish's dad is Cole MacGrath, and my dad's Alec Chance. I know for a fact that your mom's probably about as famous as Cole in the Conduit world and whatnot (my dad isn't that much, but he's still widely recognized), and when Trish went to the academy last year, she became really popular, really fast."

I groaned. "Man, if I could just slip into the background, I'd be fine. Not like I wanted these powers, anyway. Why couldn't I just keep going to my normal, Human school?"

"Well, this school is gonna teach us how to control these powers. What we want to do after is up to us, whether it be good, evil, in-between, or nothing at all."

"If only," I grumbled, taking a sip of my Coke. "They'll probably force us to stay there to be the professors."

Vi smiled and ate a fry from her plate. "But I guess there's an upside to this…"

"And what would that be, dear cousin?" I asked sarcastically.

Vi's smile turned mischievous as she held up a single finger. "Boys."

"Horny bitch."

"Hey!" Vi was still grinning, despite my insult. "Are you sayin' that you're not at least thinking about the possibilities?"

"What possibilities? They're boys, we're girls, and that settles it. Didn't you ever take a sex-ed. class?"

"Duh! I had to! It destroyed my fragile mind and now I can't get the image of—!"

"Don't you dare say it! I was in the same class you were!"

"Then why did you ask me if I was in a class?"

"I thought it'd be self-explanatory!"

Vi rested her cheek on her hand just as a girl from the table of laughing teens came to our table. "No offence guys, but do you think you could keep it down a bit?"

I facepalmed. "Y-Yeah… sure. Sorry 'bout that."

"Like I said, no prob." The girl looked over at her friends, and then back to us. "Hey, d'you guys wanna come and sit with us?"

I looked at Vi, who grinned. "Sure! How 'bout it, Kay?"

I reluctantly nodded. I didn't like large groups, that's why my friends had always been diverse and from groups of their own. If I wanted to visit them, I'd just catch 'em in the hallway or something.

Vi grabbed her Pepsi and fries and ushered me to the table with the girl. I just barely managed to grab my Coke on the way. Her friends made some room for us to sit, and even though it was a bit of a squeeze, it was comfy.

"My name's Elise, by the way," the girl said. "Elise Fitzpatrick. And your name's are…?"

"Violet," Vi answered. "Call me Vi."

I decided to play it smart like Vi and not give my last name. "Kayce," I said. "Call me whatever."

Elise smiled at this. "Well, it's nice to meet some new faces. Everyone at this table, save for you two, have been going to the academy for three years now."

She _did_ look older than us, that I'd admit, but I looked older than I actually was.

"So you guys're first-years, huh?"

"Yep," Vi answered. "I'm excited! This is gonna be a blast!"

Elise smiled. "Well, it _is_ fun. But you've also got to focus on studying a lot!"

I remembered what my parents had said: I had to get into the top fifty at the academy to find out why mom knew I was a Conduit. I was pretty sure that motherly instinct was completely irrelevant in that way.

"So, what kind of powers do you have?" Elise asked suddenly.

Vi smiled proudly. "No electronic is ever safe from me! I can get into their… well, 'heads', per say. Make 'em do what I want."

"Interesting!" Elise beamed, and then turned to me. "And you, Kayce?"

I fidgeted from under the table. "Erm… well…"

Trish entered the dining car and briskly walked over to the table. "There you guys are! I was wondering if you'd fallen off the friggin' train or just—!" Trish stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Elise, and instead of the friendly, mocking smile she'd just been wearing, her expression turned into a smile that could only spell out, "I-hate-you- with-all-my-guts." "Hey, Elise. Long time no see, huh?"

Elise smiled the exact same way. "MacGrath. I was hoping you'd drop-out."

"You know me; always the rebel. And at least _one_ MacGrath needs to make it through college."

Elise looked at Vi, Trish, and then me again. "Friends of yours?"

"Cousins, actually," Trish said as she grabbed the back of our shirt collars and dragged us out of the booth. "Both of them are always lookin' for trouble. You know kids."

Vi looked like she was going to argue, but she stopped short when I swiftly jabbed her in the ribs for silence.

"Yeah," Elise agreed, "kids. Always looking to pull the rug from underneath your feet."

Trish and Elise had a staring match for at least five minutes before Trish smiled. "Well, we'd better get going. Don't want a seduction Conduit making out with me before I even know it."

Before Elise could argue, Trish dragged us out of the car. Only when we were safely in our seats with the door closed did Trish let out a breath she'd been holding in.

"Lemme guess," Vi said, "she's not your friend."

"Got that right," Trish grumbled. "I met 'er in my first year, when she was a second-year. She immediately felt her power threatened when I got to the Academy, because everyone knew I was a MacGrath. That name carries a lotta things, not all of 'em good." Trish snorted distastefully. "So, she gets it in her head that I'm trying to take over the school. You know how those popular kids are; as soon as there's a new piece of gossip, they're on it like starving lions on a big, juicy steak."

I bit my lip. "What does a seduction Conduit do?"

"They're simple enough; they increase their pheromone levels to get people attracted to 'em, but once people know what they're doing, it loses its magic."

"Sounds… interesting," Vi said. "Nothing I've ever heard about before."

"Well, there're lots of Conduits around the school. A lot of 'em are different, so you'll see a good variety." Trish checked her watch and looked out the window. "We're almost there. Grab your suitcases, kiddies; it's nearly showtime!"

Somewhere, deep inside my stomach, a knot tightened to a point where I felt far past uncomfortable.


	3. The Grand Tour

Chapter Two:

The Grand Tour

Already, it'd been an hour since the train had stopped at the station and let us off. Trish immediately led us to the girl's dorm and showed us where our rooms are after we'd found out that we had assigned rooms. Vi and I weren't in the same room, but I didn't mind. Just as long as my roommate didn't annoy the living daylights outta me, I was content.

And then, Trish told Vi and I to wait while she went to see when the opening ceremony would be. That was half an hour ago.

"Did she die on the way?" Vi complained, falling onto my bed. "God, you'd think that she was kidnapped and went on a grand adventure while we're waiting here!"

I shrugged. "Well, we're not gonna go after her. She knows this place better than we do."

Vi propped herself up on her elbows and frowned at me. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Over there," I said, pointing absolutely nowhere, "with the last shit I gave."

Vi frowned. "Ha, ha. My sides're splitting."

"I'd be disappointed if they weren't." I tapped my chin in thought. "Hey, Vi, maybe you can tap into the school's security cameras. See where Trish is."

Vi grinned. "Now, why didn't I think of that before?"

It took Vi a few minutes, but she managed to get into the cameras "heads", as it were. I waited patiently while she did, tapping my fingers on the bed to make a quick beat. I loved music, but I didn't see how I could get into it without making a total fool of myself. Suddenly, Vi's head jerked upward.

"Trish!" she yelled.

I practically fell off the bed at her outburst. "W-What?"

"Trish's in trouble! Some people… I think I recognize some of 'em from the train!"

I leapt off of the bed and grabbed Vi's wrist, dragging her along with me out the door. "Where is she?"

"I thought you didn't want to go lookin' for her!" Vi exclaimed.

"She's in trouble! I'll make an exception! Now where is she?"

Vi pointed. "Behind the library. Follow me!"

We ran swiftly through the campus, avoiding other students who were headed to the main hall. By the time we reached the library, it was evening.

"D'ya think we missed the entrance ceremony?" Vi asked as we rounded the corner.

"Probably. I'm not so sure though," I replied. "C'mon; we're almost there!"

We slowed and peeked around the corner. No one. Not a single thing. Only trees.

"Are you sure that you got it right?" I asked Vi.

She pointed to a camera. "See that? I'm not wrong."

"Then that means they got away with it." Inside, I felt so useless that it felt like nothing mattered. That was a whole lotta useless. "We should investigate the area."

"Who made you Sherlock Holmes?" Vi asked sarcastically. "Fine, but we'd better hurry. We don't want anyone coming back to clean up any mess they left."

Vi and I looked around carefully, but the best I found was a bit of blood on the bricks. It was still fresh.

"You wouldn't happen to be a beast Conduit, would ya?" Vi asked. "Because, if you are, we can find 'er with just that."

I frowned. "No, I'm not a beast Conduit. Damn, maybe you can tap into the security camera again and see what happened?"

"It'll only go back so far without anyone in the security room noticing," she said.

"Well then, we'd better stop wasting time."

Vi nodded and concentrated. A few seconds later, her face scrunched up, letting me know that she was in. When she opened her eyes, she smiled.

"It isn't Trish's blood. A guy rushed at 'er and she flipped over him like a ninja. He rammed his face into the wall and got a nosebleed." Vi giggled. "Gotta hand it to 'er; she's good at acrobatics."

"She was—is—a gymnast. Going on twelve years now, right?"

"Mhm." Vi rubbed her forehead. "Maybe we should head back to the dorm."

"If we can find our way back," I said. "We can probably ask for directions. I'm sure that there's _someone_ still out here."

My hunch proved right; there was a boy about our age reading on a bench. Okay, I admit, he was kinda cute, but I could tell that Vi was already head-over-heels for him, so I ignored it. He had wavy blonde hair that barely reached his shoulders and really nice blue eyes, but his complexion showed that he rarely went out in the sun.

"Hey! Excuse me!" Vi shouted from across the yard.

He looked up as we were getting closer and smiled. "Yeah? What's up?"

"We're looking for the girl's dorm," I explained casually. "Can't seem to find it."

The boy glanced quickly at his page and shut the book. "Well, I can help. I've got nothin' to do until the entrance ceremony."

_So we haven't missed it,_ I thought with relief. "Thanks, we appreciate it."

He shrugged. "Well, I do what I can to help out first-years." He extended a hand. "James Alexander. Call me Jay."

"Kayce," I replied, taking his hand and shaking it. "Just Kayce."

"And I'm Violet," Vi said as he extended the courtesy to her. "But everyone calls me Vi."

"Well, Vi and Just Kayce, follow me."

I facepalmed as Vi snickered. In a few minutes, Jay had led us all the way back to the girl's dorm. I wondered why it'd taken so long for us to get to the library in the first place, but then I remembered that Vi's sense of direction was about as bad as a super-villain's chances to take over the world.

"And here we are. Maybe you'll remember the way now," Jay chided playfully. "This place is easy to navigate once you get used to it. And that doesn't take much, believe me."

"Thanks!" Vi exclaimed gleefully. "Maybe we'll get to see you again?"

"I don't doubt it. I mean, I'll get to see you two when you step up on the stage for the entrance ceremony, right?" He smiled when we nodded. "Well then, I need to get ready for the ceremony. It's always great to see new students come to the school."

We waved when Jay walked away. Vi was the first to go inside, and as I looked over my shoulder at Jay, he'd turned around and smiled one last time. I followed Vi in and sighed.

"Well, maybe Trish is—."

"There you are!" Trish exclaimed as she descended the steps of the girl's dorm. "I've been looking everywhere for you! The entrance ceremony's about to start, so we gotta go!"

"We don't have to wear fancy clothes, do we?" Vi whined.

Trish shook her head and shoved us out the door. "Nope. It's pretty casual. Now, let's hurry up!"

I wanted to ask Trish about what'd happened. Why was she attacked? Who attacked her? Why would someone do it so stupidly in front of a security camera? But I didn't ask. Unlike mom, I wasn't exactly the adventurous type. I remembered, when I was little, mom used to take us to the most remote places just so we could spend some time together and learn about the world. I didn't exactly dislike it, but I didn't prefer it, either.

Finding out my mom was a Conduit was probably one of the hardest moments in my life, actually. Mom and I didn't have any secrets between us, and learning that she actually _did_ nearly ripped me apart. I was angry at her, at first, but then dad managed to convince me that it was to protect Jace and I. Unfortunately, I got a bit angry at my mom afterwards after learning that someone had written an entire comic book series about her, and to keep it hush-hush that it was actually my mom, they titled it "Heat". Thank-you, _MARVEL_ _Comics_. You know more about my mom than I do. Then again, Trish's dad, Cole, got his own comic book deal. He didn't want a fancy name. Uncle Alec, however, said that if anyone tried to make him into a comic book character, he'd shoot them in the head. Instead, he makes regular guest-appearances in mom's and Cole's comic books. The fans are petitioning to see more of Alec, but the editors know how good of a shot Uncle Alec is with a sniper-rifle.

The main hall was… well, it was big. There were chairs set up in neat rows for the students, while the faculty sat at the front behind this massive table. I could swear it was mahogany. I wasn't sure if all the teachers were Conduits, since there weren't many of us, but I didn't mind. We needed a few normal people around. Or, at least, I thought we did. I wasn't sure about everyone else.

"You guys have to stand over there," Trish said, pointing to the mass of other first-years. "They'll call your name and order you into different teams. They'll explain, since I really don't have much time to find a seat." Trish waved. "See you guys back at the dorm. And have fun up there! I'll be watching, and I hope you're on my team!"

I was confused. How could they order us into teams? What teams?

"This is sounding like a movie I saw once…" Vi mumbled as we walked to the first-years.

"What movie?" I asked.

"It was called '_Harry Potter_'. This crazy-ass hat sorted the first-year kids into different houses that they'd represent. At least, I think the concept's the same, only they were Wizards."

"Hey, we're people with superpowers. There's barely a difference."

Vi and I stood together in the mass of first-years. A few of them actually looked older than us, but I decided that it was probably because of the type of Conduit they were. I'd noticed that, upon getting my powers, that I'd grown a bit taller in the past week, and I'd had other… significant changes.

"Well, here we go," Vi muttered.

I nodded. "Yep. Maybe this'll actually work out."

"What d'you mean by that?"

"Maybe there won't be a big-ass disaster, because anything involving a large school with super powered humans seems like it'd bring some sort of disaster."

Vi shrugged. "True dat."


	4. Team Players

Chapter Three:

Team Players

A man stepped up to a podium just ahead of the table that the teachers were seated at. He was in a darker-than-tan suit with a blue dress shirt underneath, had large glasses that kept slipping down his nose, matted white hair that reached just beyond the lobes of his ears, and I could guess that he was probably in his sixties. His beard was what caught my attention though; it had a very… strange design that I wasn't familiar with. The edges almost seemed like they were sharp.

He cleared his throat, and all went quiet. I guessed that he was probably the principal of the school. He was well respected, as well, considering he didn't have to yell over the crazy teens in the hall.

"Welcome, welcome," he started, "to the seventh official year of the Academy for the Gifted."

There was a short applause. The teachers, I could see, looked excitedly at us first-years. I had a feeling we were a piece of meat in the eyes of a dog.

"Of course," the principal said as the applause died down, "that would not have been possible without you all. You, and a few of the faculty here, are the gifted that the school's name suggests." He leaned forward on the podium, a small smile coming to his lips. "Be proud of who you are. Be proud of _what_ you are. There is no greater glory than accepting one's own self."

No one applauded. Everyone seemed riveted on his words. I admit, even I was. He was pretty good at speeches.

"But this is not what we're here for today!" The old principal smiled and straightened out. "We're here to celebrate our return to the school, and those who have joined our family."

_This_ one got an applause. The principal motioned to the mass of first-years and applauded himself for a time. We all just shuffled around, not knowing what to do.

"Now, we'll call you up to front by your names and sort you into the teams. The teams are as follows: Sojourn, Paragon, and Hero. The terms that you will be sorted are: your previous marks in your previous school; your personality when I shake your hand; and the choices you've made in the past to get yourself here. When I call your name, simply come to the front, and our vice-principal, Ms. Thatcher, will announce what team you belong in. Not until after you're sorted will you be told of what your team represents. This allows us to ensure that no tricks are made with any of your powers."

The principal motioned to a woman seated at the table. She was a tall woman (who seemed to favour the colour green) and looked like she enjoyed pursing her lips as opposed to smiling. Her auburn hair was tied neatly in a bun on her head, but she had no glasses, despite her age. She stood and briskly walked over to the principal until she stood beside him.

"Thank-you, Mr. Wallace," she said. "Now, students, ensure that you allow the person we call up to get to the stage as swiftly as possible. I'm sure you're all tired from your journey."

"Speaking of our 'journey'," Vi said, imitating Ms. Thatcher's haughty voice on the last word, "why did we take a damn train?"

A girl leaned over to Vi. "Because there's a barrier around the property, and only the train has access through it. If a car or an airplane, or even a flying Conduit tried to get through, they'd be destroyed immediately."

Vi blinked. "Seriously?"

She nodded. "My sister graduated from here two years ago. She works security now. She'd never lie."

Mr. Wallace cleared his throat. "Now, let's see…" He pulled a list out of his suit and pushed his glasses up his nose for the fourth time since he'd approached the podium. "Dani Strauss?"

The girl beside us straightened and hobbled up to the stage. But by the time she grasped Mr. Wallace's hand, it seemed like she'd regained some control over herself.

Ms. Thatcher looked at a list of her own. "Hero," she announced loudly.

Several students in the crowd clapped thunderously. Dani grinned as she was directed to a seat near the front.

"Victoria Stafford."

A girl who seemed like she could fall on her face at any moment because of her five-inch heels walked up and clasped Mr. Wallace's hand. She seemed confident, but there was something about her smile that I just didn't like…

"Sojourn," Ms. Thatcher announced.

Several more student cheered, some of the boys wolf-whistling while Victoria was being led to her seat.

"I recognize some of them!" Vi exclaimed as she pointed to the boys. "Look; that guy was the one who slammed his face into the wall when they ambushed Trish!"

I shrugged. I wasn't the one who saw the security footage, so I couldn't exactly agree with her.

"Violet Chance!"

Vi went rigid and looked at me pleadingly. We both _hated_ to be put on the spot, but this was something we had to do.

"Go on," I muttered. "You don't want them to call your name again."

Vi nodded and approached the stage. She breathed in and out in an attempt to calm herself.

Mr. Wallace offered his hand, and Vi took it without giving it a second thought. It made me wonder why they would judge how you were sorted by how you greeted the school's principal. Maybe it'd be explained, along with the different teams, when the time came.

"Miss Chance, I've met with your father once," Mr. Wallace said. "Good man. Good shot, too. Saved my life."

"O-Oh…" Vi seemed at a loss for words.

Ms. Thatcher looked at her list. "Paragon!"

The kids (who, by now, I assumed were on the same team as my newly-inducted cousin) cheered as Vi was led to her seat. Trish patted Vi affectionately on the shoulder. They were on the same team.

"Nicholas Young?"

A boy about a head taller than me carefully pushed me out of the way. He had jet-black hair that seemed too unnatural to be real, slightly tanned skin (evidence that he spent some time outside), and eyes that were the colour of a cloudy sky. He cast me one last look before he got onto the stage, and I could see a pendant hanging around his neck. It reminded me of some sort of… well, to me, it looked like it could become a spaceship one day. It was silver, but it didn't shine, and the edges were black.

Nicholas clasped the principal's hand firmly and smiled slightly. It seemed gentle, intelligent and… careful?

"Paragon!"

More cheers. I was awakened from my stupor of just _looking_ at him when a few more people passed me, their names being called. A while later, there were only a few of us first-years left, and I started to get an uneasy feeling in my stomach that, maybe, I'd been forgotten from the list, and I'd need to stand in one place until they called up the random person who was still standing.

"Kayce Grey!"

I carefully made my way up to the stage, my legs feeling like lead. I dreaded every step. When I finally realized that everyone was staring at me with these looks on their faces that said, "I-swear-I-know-you-so-who-the-hell-are-you?", I was already at the front.

"Ah, Miss Grey!" Mr. Wallace said as soon as I'd taken his hand. "It's about time I've met you! I was wondering when one of the Grey children would come!"

I gulped as I heard the few murmurs around the main hall. "Joan." "Kayce." "The fire Conduit." By this time, it felt like my stomach was doing somersaults! I couldn't imagine how Trish had felt when she had to be sorted!

It felt like time had slowed while Ms. Thatcher was looking at her list. Finally, she looked up at me and yelled, "Paragon!"

I think I was _that_ close to fainting, but a third-year led me down the steps while the other Paragons cheered. I was grateful to sit down beside Vi and ahead of Trish, who locked her arm around my neck and kissed the back of my head.

From across the room, I saw Jay smile and nod at me. I'd seen him cheering when Dani was announced as a Hero, so I assumed that he was one too. The last of the first-years were called (none had been forgotten), but it seemed that Vi, Nicholas and I, plus about two or three other people, were first-year Paragons. The Heroes and the Sojourns outnumbered us, but I don't think anyone minded much.

"May the Scales of Justice be with you," Mr. Wallace said. "Now, you're all dismissed to do as you please tomorrow, but come Monday, classes will start!"

There were a few groans in the crowd, but nothing major. The loudest sound was applauding until all the teachers had left, and then the students got up and congratulated their new team-members. Trish hugged me and Vi at the same time.

"Ha! I knew you two'd be Paragons!" she exclaimed. "I got a bit worried with you though, Kayce. Ms. Thatcher couldn't seem to make a decision."

"Really?" It'd _felt_ slow, but at the same time blindingly fast.

Trish shrugged. "Hey, it doesn't matter now. The leader of the Paragon team speaks with the first-years when they're chosen for the Paragon team, but I'm not sure who the leader is this year…"

"So… now what?" Vi asked.

"We can go back to the dorm. I'm sure that the leader probably wouldn't want to keep us away from our beds any longer." Trish grinned. "C'mon; let's go."


	5. To Be, Or Not To Be

Chapter Four:

To Be, Or Not To Be

My roommate ended up being a girl named Cylis Andrews. She was a first-year Hero, but very nice (she let me have the shower first). It seemed like, even though we were on different teams, she genuinely wanted to be friends, so I made no attempt to stop her. Cy (as she asked me to call her) had long and straight brown hair that reached the middle of her back, but she liked to put it in a ponytail or a braid just because she could. She also had a habit of making and remaking her bed until she was satisfied with how it looked. Then and only then would she dare sleep in it. She was really funny too; liked to make a joke outta everything, but she kept it minor. She didn't wanna make a bad first-impression.

"So," she said after a time, "you're mom's Joan Grey?"

I nodded. "Yep. Not sure why my mom's so famous in the Conduit world, since I never really asked 'er."

"I heard a rumor that she kept it from you."

I frowned and climbed into my bed. "Yeah… Yeah, she did."

"Why?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. Dad told me it was to protect my brother and I. To be honest, I'm not so sure. I mean, she's my mom and I love 'er, but she just…" I sighed. "I'm not sure."

Cy smiled weakly. "Well, maybe you should ask sometime. I mean, to keep something a secret _that_ _long_ probably means something big."

I shrugged again and climbed under the covers. Officially, I was gonna be sixteen in October, so I should've been with Trish in the second-year since I was just a little older than most kids, but when I was in pre-school, they wouldn't take me until I was a certain age. So, I was with Vi. Not too bad, anyway.

"Are your parents Conduits?" I asked Cy.

She shook her head in the darkness of our room. Only the moon and the stars outside were illuminating the room through the window.

"Nope. It gave 'em a bit of a shock when they found out. All of a sudden one day, my room started to light up like the Fourth of July. I can make these firecracker things and shape 'em however I want with my hands, and they make one hell of a distraction. It got me out of a few classes before anyone realized that I was a Conduit. I was suspended for a day before my parents enrolled me here."

"Fun."

Cy turned over in her bed so she'd face me from across the room. "What about you?"

I bit my lip. "Well, it was the first day of my tenth grade… And the next thing I knew, when we had to introduce ourselves, the fire alarm went off. One of my friends told me that there was a fire in one of the chem. labs upstairs. We followed everyone out, but it turned out that the fire was spreading really fast—faster than the teachers had thought. A beam fell down from the roof. It was on fire." Just the memory itself was something I wanted to forget, but being at the new school… It was like a reminder every moment why I was there. "One of my friends and I were under it. I couldn't move, and the next thing I knew, I was holding up this huge-ass beam. It burned my hands, but my friend managed to get away. And then this guy came into the school, pushing past my friend, and kicked me in the chest."

I heard Cy gasp. "He must've started the fire!"

"That's what I was thinking." I vaguely remembered the pain in my hands and chest that day, despite it only being a week ago. But it felt like an eternity. "And then this woman came up behind him. They seemed like they were working together. They called me my mom's name. I've always been told I look a lot like 'er, but I was confused as to why those people would be after my mom. The next thing I knew, we were fighting. I was so much stronger than I'd ever been in my life. I ran up to a classroom near the chem. lab, but the only way to escape was through a window, and it'd be a long fall." I sighed. "The two chasing me were Alden and Sasha from Empire City. I thought Cole'd taken care of 'em, but they escaped him _and_ the Beast by way of water. They cornered me, and then my mom broke through the window. I was so confused because she was a firefighter, but she didn't have her equipment on, _and_ she'd gotten to the second floor without a ladder. Mom fought them and killed them." The thought of my mom killing anything but germs around the house made everything seem too surreal. "And now, I'm here."

I heard Cy chuckled. "That's one hell of an origin story."

"I wonder what my mom's is."

Cy, I could see, shrugged. "Maybe you'll get to ask 'er soon."

I turned over in my bed, away from Cy. "Maybe…"

Vi, who looked like she'd just gotten up as well, rudely awakened me the next morning.

"What the hell…?" I muttered groggily.

Vi yawned. "Team Paragon's leader wants to talk with the new first-years." She shrugged. "Beats me why she wanted to do it at seven in the morning."

I groaned. Leave it to a stranger not to know that I liked sleeping in…

"C'mon," Vi said as she tugged me out of the bed, albeit weakly. "We can go in our PJ's."

"Sounds good."

Vi led me downstairs to the living room, where a couple of the other first-year Paragons were patiently and tiredly waiting for the others. They were Nicholas and another boy, whose name, I remembered, was Hunter.

Hunter grinned at us. "Well, finally they come!"

"Where's the other one?" Vi asked, ignoring Hunter's comment.

"She went to grab something to eat," Hunter explained. "She'll be back in a sec. The team leader should be here any minute, anyway."

I sat down with Vi across from Hunter and Nicholas. Hunter had dirty-blonde hair and a cocky grin that made me want to duck-and-cover for fear of my romantic life. _If I even _have_ one,_ I thought. Hunter was wearing only PJ pants that advertised Guitar Hero, and no shirt. That in itself made me wonder about how confident he was about his _own_ romantic life.

Nicholas still had his pendant on over his T-shirt (which he obviously used as a PJ shirt), but his hair was sticking out all over his head and it made me want to laugh. Not _at_ him, but just because he seemed like the serious type, and seeing someone like that so disorganized made we want to giggle. Just a l'il bit.

Nicholas caught me looking at him and smiled softly. There it was; that careful smile I'd seen him use with Mr. Wallace. I wondered what it meant, but for the moment, I just smiled back as well (but matching his careful one).

A girl came into the room then and passed us all some fruit on plates. Of course, since there were five of us (including her), she used her telekinetic Conduit powers to help out.

"Bon appetite," she said, faking a French accent.

Hunter grabbed his plate out of the air. "Ah, merci!"

"Thanks, Steph," Nicholas said.

I instantly remembered her name: Stephanie Wallace. I wondered if she was related to the principal of the school, but I had my doubts. It was a common Scottish name.

Vi and I thanked her for the food, and she smiled politely. She seemed nice enough.

A girl came down from the rooms upstairs and regarded us thoughtfully. She had black hair, almost as dark as Nicholas's, dark skin and nicely coloured brown eyes.

"I was a little disappointed, at first," she said as she approached the couches we were sitting on. "I was hoping for a few more Paragons this year, but…" She grinned, flashing perfect white teeth. "You'll do."

Hunter scoffed. "Seriously?"

"What?" the team leader asked.

"What the hell d'you mean by 'You'll do'? I'm insulted!"

She rolled her eyes at Hunter and ignored him. "My name's Mina Dain. I'm the Paragon team leader."

"We got that, Captain Obvious," Hunter said.

Mina ignored him again, but I felt like the rule with females and the number three was about to be enforced. She sat down in an armchair that faced us all and regarded us one by one.

"I'm sure you're all curious as to what a Paragon is, exactly," Mina said as her arms extended onto the armrests comfortably. "A Paragon can be explained as many things: people who have surpassed the rank of Hero, people who are so incredibly good in their morals that they would sacrifice themselves at a moment's notice, and people who simply have powers." Mina looked at our faces again. She knew we were all-ears. "A Paragon is all of these things. Mr. Wallace saw this in you, and believed that this team was where you belonged. However, don't be so quick to think yourselves better than the other teams. You may share a few qualities with those of the other teams rather than simply Paragons. Sojourns are travellers. Mr. Wallace saw that they can be swayed, and saw that they didn't have a strong foothold in their beliefs. Heroes are those who are in the middle. They're unsure of themselves, like the Sojourns, but they're good in their morals. It's simple, really, and if you want a more detailed explanation, you'd have to ask another Hero after today."

We all took this in. So, we were Paragons because Mr. Wallace and Ms. Thatcher believed that, at any given moment, we'd be ready to stand for what's right. A noble idea, but I wasn't sure if I could. I was definitely too afraid, but I wouldn't admit it.

Mina put her hands on her knees. "Now, does anyone have anything to share? Anything I should know?"

"Like how many times we've taken cookies from the cookie jar?" Hunter inquired. "Well, I've been a very bad boy in that sense. Maybe you'd best give me a private lesson in how to be good."

Mina smiled. If you're female, or spent a good amount of time around females, you can tell what kind of smile that is. I instantly felt sorry for Hunter.

"Stand up, and I'll teach you," Mina said seductively.

Hunter grinned proudly and stood up. Mina stood as well, and in two strides she closed the gap in-between Hunter and herself. Hunter didn't know what he was in for. Mina, as if she'd done it before, slid one of her hands behind Hunter's skull and the other into his hand. She bent his head down—.

And brought her knee up, hitting him in the balls.

Hunter cried out in pain and doubled-over onto the floor. He was in agony. Mina really didn't hold back. Nicholas and the rest of us, however, were laughing.

"I don't think you've heard my nickname yet," Mina said with a grin. "They call me 'The Ball-Cruncher'. And it's not just because I've got the best kick on our Paragon soccer team." Mina leaned over him. "Now, have we learned to be a good boy?"

Hunter nodded. "Yes ma'am," he managed to get out, albeit painfully.

"Excellent. Now, who wants to get dressed and go for a run?"

I already liked Mina. She was definitely the "no-nonsense" type of person, but it looked like she could have some fun as well. And if jogging was her sense of fun, I didn't mind it at all.


	6. First Day of School

Chapter Five:

First Day of School

Strangely enough, the classes I was taking were completely normal. I was expecting something more along the lines of, "Saving the world for beginners", and "Dealing with public scrutiny 101".

But no. It was almost as if I hadn't left New Marias High School. Almost.

At the end of the day, we had History. Now, I love history. It's my thing. I know everyone from every period and if you wanna challenge me on it, you'd better have done your homework.

So I was pretty excited when I entered my last class. Mr. Nelson was the teacher, and I could tell immediately that he was a Conduit. His skin was blue, and he had fur growing in all sorts of places, but he was wearing a suit and glasses. I was tentative at first, but when he caught me looking at him he smiled, and I returned it.

When everyone was seated and the bell rang, Mr. Nelson wrote his name on the board. I looked at Vi (from across the classroom, since she hadn't gotten to the class in time to sit beside me) and smiled. She knew this was my best class, but almost every other she could bury me six feet under.

"For those of you who don't already know," Mr. Nelson said, "My name is Lawrence Nelson, and I'm your History teacher. History is not boring if you really look at the big picture. In fact, you may come to find that history is valuable, and it will help you in your daily lives, in whatever you choose to be."

"That's what Mr. Norton said about my Mathematics class!" a boy yelled form the back of the classroom.

A bit of laughter traversed through the room. Even Mr. Nelson smiled. "Yes, well, I find that, in my profession, I only need to know the most basic forms of math. However, it is important, and I encourage you to listen to Mr. Norton. He's a good man, up to the point where you don't do your homework. I cannot recount how many times he's run through the staff room and I've had to get all the Human teachers to safety because of his Conduit powers."

The laughter ceased abruptly, but Mr. Nelson continued to chuckle. It made me wonder if he _was_ just pulling our legs, or if he was telling the truth.

"In history," Mr. Nelson continued as soon as he was done laughing to himself, "people do things that make them great. It doesn't matter if it was good or bad; they were _remembered_. Henry Tudor, also known as Henry VIII, married six times. He divided the Catholic Church because they would not annul his first marriage, and named himself the head of his new church. He beheaded his second wife, his third died, and so on, and so forth. Christopher Columbus was looking for an alternate route to India, and instead he found North America." Mr. Nelson levelled his eyes at us, gently. "Are you seeing my point?"

I found myself nodding. He was a very good teacher, in my own opinion. I liked teachers who could keep me interested.

"We've made history right now," Mr. Nelson said. "This is your first History class, and I hope you remember it." He grabbed a book from his desk and flipped through it. "Now, can anyone tell me what happened in New Marias nearly seventeen years ago?"

"Cole defeated the Beast there!" someone from the back yelled.

Cheers and woots erupted through the classroom. Obviously, they were huge fans of Cole. Who wouldn't be? When I was little, I had dolls of Cole and Lucy MacGrath. That was before I thought it was weird that my childhood hero knew my mom.

"And later that year?" Mr. Nelson prodded.

There was only a moment's hesitation. "Joan and Cole crushed the Militia!"

A few more cheers were added. I had a feeling that they were talking about my mom. I started to get uncomfortable as soon as I got that feeling, and I prayed in my head that they wouldn't pursue the topic.

Luckily, Mr. Nelson noticed my discomfort. "Besides when Cole, Alden, Sasha, and Kessler were recognized first in Empire City (and later, Joan), this was the first time the government recognized that people with superpowers existed. That people were different than them. A pivotal moment in our history as Conduits." Mr. Nelson cleared his throat. "Students, look under your desks."

We did as we were told. I found a piece of paper sticking under my desk. It'd been taped there. I grabbed it and looked. It had a name on it.

"The name you pick up will be your partner for the rest of the year," Mr. Nelson explained. "Some of you did not get a piece of paper. If, by chance, someone has your name on a piece of paper and you have your own, you may choose if you want to be their partner or not. Otherwise, you have no choice."

The name written on my piece of paper was Nicholas Young. I didn't even see him in the class, but, then again, I zoned out easily.

So, it took me about a minute to actually spot him. He was scratching his pen against a sheet of paper. It looked like he was drawing something…

His fingers, all of a sudden, snapped in front of my face about three times. "Hey, you zoned. You okay?"

I blinked. "Y-Yeah… It's just that—."

"You've got my name on that piece of paper." Nicholas smiled and held up a tiny sheet in his hand. "I've got yours on mine."

_Lucky!_ I thought automatically. _No, wait, why am I thinking that? Dammit, Kayce Joanna Grey! Pull yourself together!_

"So, where d'you wanna sit?" Nicholas asked.

I cleared my throat after getting my somehow-racing thoughts under control. "It doesn't really matter to me."

Nicholas looked around the classroom and studied the other students, who were getting to know their new partners. "I'll sit by you," Nicholas suggested. "Everyone tends to migrate back here anyway. There should be some room left."

I agreed with him and helped him to carry some of his things over to the desk beside mine. I liked to sit by the window, because on the warm days the sun felt great on my skin. I didn't mind going outside for hours on end, but I never tan. I was so white, I would stay outside for hours and come back in to my house looking like a lobster. My mom had once burst out in laughter when she saw me, and I joined in, even though it was painful to do so.

"What're you drawing?" I asked as I set down one of his notebooks.

He shrugged. "I dunno. I just draw what I feel like."

I always said, "I dunno" if I didn't wanna talk about it, so I dropped _that_ attempt at conversation. Nicholas seemed like he was a private person anyway. I could tell mostly because of his smile.

Finally, when everyone was seated again, Mr. Nelson cleared his throat. "Now, for your first project with this person, I want you to learn _their_ history." No one argued. It seemed like we had a pretty solid class. "But I'm drawing the line at social security numbers. There will be no stalking in this class!"

Everyone was laughing. Just another time when I couldn't figure out if Mr. Nelson was serious or not.

"I want you to get started now," he instructed. "Use the rest of this period to learn about your partner, and try to finish by the end of the week. Or, you could leave early with your partner and do your work outside. The choice is yours. But if you leave early and choose not to do the work, there will be consequences."

The majority of the class left. Nicholas and I decided we'd go as well, and we found a nice tree in the courtyard that was perfect. It shaded us from the sun, but didn't take away its warmth.

"I wonder what kind of questions I need to ask you…?" Nicholas wondered aloud.

"How 'bout we start with names, cities, dates-of-birth…" I shrugged. "So, your full name?"

"Nicholas Jeremy Young XIII," he answered.

I blinked. "Seriously?"

Nicholas laughed. "No," he said. I started to erase his name when he added, "My middle name isn't Jeremy. It's Atticus."

I facepalmed.

"I know, right?" He grinned. "Okay, your name!"

"Kayce Joanna Grey," I answered as I finished putting "Atticus" onto my paper. "The first," I added slyly.

Nicholas was chuckling when he wrote down my name in his notebook. "Well, what about your city?"

"New Marias," I answered. "Born and raised."

"I was born in Syracuse," he said. "I spent some time there, but not as much as I'd like to. It's a nice place."

I nodded in agreement. Mom took us to Syracuse once, and we toured around. It really _was_ a nice place.

"Okay, your D.O.B.?"

"October 13th," he answered readily. "And yours?"

I frowned, but it was forced. I really wanted to smile. "October 20th. You're a week older than I am."

"Haha!" he exclaimed in triumph. "I win!"

"It's not a contest!"

"But if it were, I'd win!" Nicholas just seemed to be playing around though. "Anything else to ask?"

The bell rang then. The last class was over, so we had the evening to ourselves.

"We can keep asking questions in the living room," Nicholas suggested. "The girls' and boys' dorms are connected through it, so it's not like we're going into each other's rooms."

I had to agree. We were both headed there, anyway. I grabbed my stuff and walked with Nicholas to the dorm. He told me that there were two more dorms around the campus, but we got to choose our dorms. Third-years had first pick, and then second-years, and then first-years. If there wasn't room in the dorm that they wanted, they'd be sent to another one. Simple as that.

"I guess my mom chose this one for me," I muttered.

"Well, she has good taste. There's a secret door in one of the bookshelves in the living room that has video games behind it."

My eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. I was up exploring last night, and I found it when I was trying to read a book." He grinned again. "Probably the best moment of my life!"

We entered the dorm and separated so we could put most of our stuff away in our rooms. As soon as I was ready, I found myself rushing downstairs to meet up with Nicholas again. I slowed at the last minute and looked into the living room, but I didn't see anyone.

_Probably just needs a sec,_ I thought. _Hey, wait a sec! Stop rushing, you idiot! Why the hell're you rushing?_

Inside my head, I smacked myself upside the head and sat on a couch. I started to go over my notes when Nicholas finally came in. He looked a bit… uncomfortable? No, he looked stressed.

"What's up?" I asked.

Nicholas looked at the door to the boys' dorm and frowned. "Nothing."

And that was another code word for, "Please don't talk to me about it right now". I'm good at guy-talk. I dropped it, and Nicholas and I finished up our assignment. On the plus side, homework was done! On the minus side, homework with Nicholas was done.

Dammit.


	7. Team Paragon

Chapter Six:

Team Paragon

Friday came and we finished our classes for the week. As I was leaving Mr. Nelson's History class, Vi caught up with me.

"Hey, Kayce!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Guess what?"

I manoeuvred us out of the way of our classmates. "What?"

"Jay asked if I wanted to grab something to eat with him!" she exclaimed excitedly, on the verge of squealing.

"What, like a date?"

"Kinda. I mean, he didn't outright ask it, but I feel like my chances have just gone up by about a million percent!"

I frowned. "You're sure? I mean, he could just be playing you."

"And why, exactly, would you say that?" she asked pointedly.

"First-off, we don't know 'im that well. It could just be a prank that second-years do on first-years."

Vi frowned. "Look, I wanna go! If that makes me an idiot for it, then that's okay! I'm not gonna give up this chance just because of a hunch!"

I shrugged. "Whatever. I _am_ happy for you, though."

Vi grinned slyly. "And I you, Miss Grey."

"And what the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, _please_. I was wondering where you were on Monday when you and Nicholas left the classroom. I saw that tree. You were totally flirting."

My face instantly went red. "T-That was flirting?"

"What, you didn't know?"

"Vi, the only interactions I usually have with the opposite sex are for gaming purposes!"

She blinked. "Oh, right. Forgot about that. You're completely untrained in the ways of the female."

"Thanks for that."

"Absolutely _no_ problem."

I grinned at Vi. "C'mon; we should meet up with Trish and see if she wants to hang out or something."

"Okay. I don't go out with Jay until tomorrow, anyway."

Vi and I decided to talk about what our teachers had in store for us when we had entered the living room. I saw Victoria Stafford talking with Hunter on the couch. I wondered briefly why she was in the dorm, but then I remembered that she lived there with us. In fact, she was Trish's roommate.

"Just think about it, okay?" she finished as we walked in. "It'll be a great opportunity."

Hunter grinned. "Maybe if you can persuade me with something better than words…?"

I shook my head and ignored whatever they were talking about. Instead, Vi and I climbed the stairs of the girls' dorm and dropped our stuff off, and then looked around for Trish. She hadn't been avoiding us; it was just that we never really saw her around. She had different classes than us, anyway.

"Hey! Trish!" I called when I knocked on the door to her room. "Are you in?"

No answer. I frowned immediately and went to Vi's room. _What the hell could Trish be _doing_ at a time like this…?_

"She's not there," I told Vi when it looked like she was going to ask. "She's out… again."

"Should I look for 'er?"

I shook my head. "Nah. There's no point." I held up my cell. "She'll probably text, anyway."

Vi nodded. "She'd better. Or else I'm tying 'er up with an electric fence."

"Subtle."

"Hey, it's better than the wires running under the ground that power the gigantic shield above us."

"You have a point."

Vi shrugged. "You know, tomorrow, when I'm out with Jay, maybe you could try out for the basketball team?"

That was my soft spot. I _loved_ basketball. It was my best and most favourite sport, and I didn't even need powers to be good at it.

"Wait a sec, we have a basketball team?"

Vi lazily held her arm up, curling her hand into a fist. "Team Paragon, bro." She grinned and let her arm fall. "What'd you expect? Flying contests? Who can pick up the heaviest semi?"

"Well, kinda."

"Meh, I don't blame ya."

Basketball actually sounded great. If tryouts were the next day, I'd need to practice.

Vi caught me looking at her. "_Hell no_. We are _not_ playing basketball together! No, no, no!"

A few minutes later, Vi and I were outside on the tarmac shooting a few hoops in our gym wear. Just a normal grey T-shirt and black shorts. It looked like a few other people had gotten the same idea, so we ended up sharing the nets. Vi was really good at blocking, which was one of the reasons I liked to play with her, but she couldn't really shoot very well. I was trying to help her out, but she wasn't one for listening.

"_You're_ the one trying out!" Vi snapped at one point. "Just hurry up and shoot!"

I overheard the rules from a few of the other kids. It was supposed to be normal basketball, and that meant no powers. It didn't really matter to me; unless the other team was practically shitting their pants, I wouldn't get to use mine at all.

I dribbled the ball past Vi and then spun to the left after faking to the right. That left the hoop open. I leapt up and rolled the ball off of my fingers as soon as I reached the rim. It slid nicely in and gave me two more points.

"That's it!" Vi finally exclaimed. "I give up! I'm too tired to do anything now!"

She sat on the tarmac and groaned, rubbing her aching muscles. I handed her my water bottle, which she chugged mercilessly.

"Thanks for the workout," I said half-jokingly. "Maybe I'll make it on the team."

"You'd better. Or I'll kill you myself," Vi grumbled. "I don't want all my hard work to go to waste."

"Nice to know you care." She handed me the bottle and I downed the last of its contents. "If I make it, will you come watch my games?"

"Duh. I can't wait to see the Hero's or the Sojourn's faces when the Red Devil of team Paragon kicks their asses!"

I laughed. "What the hell? You remember that?"

"You're gonna carry-over your nickname from elementary and New Marias High School, right?"

I shrugged. "That's up to the people watching. I don't wanna get full of myself."

"Well, I hold up my sign in the crowd. The one with the pitchfork, remember?"

I facepalmed. "You _still_ have that?"

Vi gave me a thumbs-up and we went back into the dorm. After we'd both showered, we decided to hit the sack and get ready for Saturday. So far, the first week hadn't been that bad at all.

When I woke up, Cy was sprawled across her bed, mouth open. I chuckled quietly. Just wait until the boys knew how we females _really_ slept. I crawled out of bed and changed quickly into some clothes and an old red-brown windbreaker that'd once been my mom's when she was around my age. After I slipped my sneakers on, I quietly went down to the living room to see what time would be the try-outs.

I found Mina down there, sitting on the couch and scribbling on a clipboard-sized whiteboard. Upon closer inspection, I saw it had markings like a basketball court.

Mina saw me and smiled. "Hey there, first-year. What's crackin'?"

"Just came down to see when the try-outs would be for basketball," I said casually. "From what you've got in your hand, I think you might know."

She grinned. "Right you are. I just can't seem to figure something out…"

I went behind her and leaned on the couch. She was working on a new play. "What if you put someone there?"

She looked where I was pointing and smiled again. "Not bad, first-year. That just might work." She quickly scribbled on the spot and swiftly drew an entire play. "Done! You like basketball then?"

"Love it."

Mina took a picture of the board with her phone. "Try-outs're today at noon. All ages, but this is only for the girls. No boys allowed on the team, but they'll definitely be watching. Also, don't invite anyone from opposing teams. The last time someone did, we had to change all of our plays."

I nodded. "No prob. I'll see you there, I guess."

Mina nodded and wiped the whiteboard, starting on a new play. I went to the kitchen adjacent to the living room and started to cut up some fruit.

I didn't even notice when Nicholas came in. "Morning," he greeted tiredly.

I jumped about ten feet in the air. After getting my absolutely insane panic-attack under control, I replied, "M-Morning!"

Nicholas grinned and grabbed a box of cereal in the cupboard above me. "I saw you and Violet playing basketball last night. Thinking about joining up?"

I nodded. "I used to play it all the time back in New Marias. What about you?"

He shook his head. "Nope. I've been more of a football fan, but I'll watch basketball when my season's out." Nicholas finished pouring his cereal and smiled. "Ever seen Canadians play football? I've compared it to our NFL, but their CFL seems a bit harder. Only three downs, instead of our four, and their fields are larger. Takes a lot of skill."

"I've flipped through the channels, to be honest…"

Nicholas shrugged. "Go, Riders go!"

I decided that those guys were his favourite team.

After finishing breakfast, I checked the time. I had only half an hour before try-outs started, so I said, "Good-bye" to Nicholas and hurried to the gym, where they were supposed to take place. Nicholas had said something, but I didn't catch it and I didn't stop because I didn't wanna be late.

By the time I'd changed, I was one of the last to arrive. Mina was there, but I remembered her saying something about soccer instead of basketball. She wasn't changed-out, and she still had that whiteboard, so I figured that she was the team manager… for now, at least. Next year, she'd be graduated and we'd need to find a new one.

The team captain was another third-year named Ellie Donovan. I'd heard a few of the girls mention her in the change room, and so I figured she was a good captain. My mom had used a saying to describe people who had her kind of personality: tough, but fair.

Ellie looked us over and shook her head. "Damn. We barely even have an entire team here…"

Mina grinned. "Looks can be deceiving, Ellie."

"No powers. There'd better not be any duplicates of people…" She sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. "Okay then. Well, you guys should know right now that not all of you here will make the team. Some of you will, but most of you will end up getting cut. The people from last year who haven't graduated have a certified spot on this team, and so we only really need a few more people." Ellie started pacing. I felt like I was in the army, minus all the shouting. "But those people had better be damn good and come through for the team. I'm not gonna be happy about any more losses to the Sojourns! So, we'll call you up one-by-one and see what you got. Anyone who doesn't make it up to snuff will be cut immediately. Afterwards, those of you still remaining will go one-on-one with me. We'll see how long you last." She stopped in front of us. "And no powers! This entire season of basketball is clean. If you use powers, you'll be cut! I don't care how good you are! Got it?"

_Geezus! That was definitely the "Tough" part of my mom's saying. I wonder when the "Fair" part's coming in…?_

An hour of try-outs went by before I was called up. Lots of people were good, but they were over-exerting themselves. I knew that, since I was probably going one-on-one with the captain later, I shouldn't work myself too much, and definitely not show her the extent of what I could do.

A few easy hoops later, Mina and Ellie went to talk in a corner while we hopefuls chilled on the bleachers. Most of them were second-years who had wanted to join in their first-year, but found it impossible because of their studies. Schoolwork wasn't that bad for me; I didn't mind it, as long as it kept me interested.

Mina wrote something down on a clipboard and started to call out names. She asked those people to stand in front of the bleachers. I got worried for a second, wondering if I'd made it to the second round, when Ellie stood in front of those girls.

"Sorry, but you're just not what we're lookin' for," she said. "Have a nice day, and try again next year."

The girls, some angry, some upset, marched out of the gym and into the change rooms.

"Congrats," Ellie said to us on the bleachers. "Now, we'll see just what you're made of. I'm expecting no less than your best this round."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Of course I felt bad about the girls who hadn't made it, but I really wanted to be on the team!

I was the second person to go up against Ellie. She was tough, had excellent stamina, and could predict the movements of someone trying to get past her. A lot like Vi, when I really examined her moves. I wish I'd had more time to watch her, but I had to go up.

"Good luck, first-year," Mina muttered as I walked past her.

I gulped.

Ellie passed me a ball. "Let's see you get past me, first-year."

_Oh, just you wait…_

I dropped the ball out of my hands and started dribbling. Ellie was in the standard position for a blocker; hands outstretched, legs apart for a better centre of gravity, eyes focused and staring holes in me like I was Swiss cheese…

I faked right. She saw it coming, so I backed-off. Then I faked left. She was quick on her feet to stop me. I wanted to make my moves look predictable to get her off her guard. It was easy to be judged when you were just turning sixteen.

I decided to fake right, but as soon as she got in my way I faked left without missing a beat. She hurdled herself to my left and I spun around her easily to my right and laid-up the ball from her left. Me, one. Ellie, zip.

The captain grinned and tossed me the ball again. "Nice. But I was just going easy."

"Sure, cap."

I moved to the right. I guess she suspected another move like the last one, so she moved quickly on the balls of her feet. I twirled, almost slamming into her, but at the last minute I passed the ball around my back and tossed it up over both of our heads, into the hoop about five metres away.

Ellie spun the ball in her hands and passed it to me for the last time. "Your best. I wanna see it."

I dribbled the ball in my left hand. I decided not to use tricks this time; just get through and make the points. Ellie was fast this time—she'd been holding back before! I bounced the ball underneath our legs. She spun and reached out to grab it, but I'd already gotten around her and snatched it away. Quicker than I'd ever seen, Ellie was in front of me again. I leapt as high as I could and rolled the ball off of my fingertips, right into the hoop.

I landed just in front of Ellie. I'd almost hit 'er in the face with my knees, but instead of reprimanding me for it, she just smiled.

"Yeah," she said after a time. "You'll do, first-year."


	8. A Night Out

Chapter Seven:

A Night Out

Feeling great about my victory of getting on the team but aching all over, I collapsed on my bed back at the dorm.

Thank God it's a weekend, I thought. Can't imagine going to classes after that.

Just then, Vi burst into my room and ran over to me. "Geezus, Kayce! You're not gonna believe this!"

I turned my head so I could look at her. "What?"

"Trish got attacked!" Vi grabbed me and hefted me onto my feet. "C'mon! We have to go see 'er!"

I blinked. "W-What? Attacked? How?"

"Happened yesterday," she explained quickly. "Some of the faculty found 'er lying on the ground. She's pretty beat up, they said." Vi shook her head. "Whatever bastard did this positioned themselves so they'd be in the camera's blindspot. I went back in the files, but…"

"And people wondered why I argued with my old school about putting cameras in the blind spots," I grumbled disdainfully. "C'mon; we should definitely go see 'er."

By "We", I meant Violet and I. Of course, considering that my screaming muscles were part of me, they had to come too.

But, when we arrived at the infirmary, we weren't allowed to see 'er.

I wasn't happy. Not one l'il bit.

"Hey, what's going on?"

I turned and saw Jay stroll into the infirmary. He looked almost exactly the same as when we'd first seen him. Almost, because now it looked like he was spending more time outside.

"Trish…" Vi shook her head. I rolled my eyes when I realized she was trying to be dramatic. "She's been attacked…" God, she was going to use _sympathy_ to reel him in?

Jay's mouth dipped slightly. It almost looked like he was sad, but he had a natural smile that heavily impaired it.

"Sorry to hear that. We may be on different teams, but I always admired her. I wonder why someone would attack her?"

"Actually, on the first day, the reason we were lost was because we—I—saw Trish being attacked, but they were long-gone by the time Kayce and I got there. But it looked like Trish was handling herself well…"

"How'd you be able to see that?" Jay asked, placing a hand under his chin in thought.

Vi smiled. "I can tap into electronics. In that case, security cameras. No electronic is ever safe from me. Just ask my microwave."

Jay shook his head as if he was laughing. "That's an interesting power. Not one I've really seen anyone else do before." Jay lowered his hand from his chin. "I hope your cousin's injuries aren't going to interfere with tonight?"

"Of course not! They said it wasn't that bad, anyway." My eyebrows rose. They actually hadn't really told us _anything_.

"I'm glad to hear that." Jay looked at me and smiled. "Will you be coming along?"

I shook my head. "Nope. You guys have fun; I'll be practicing some basketball instead."

"You joined the team?"

"Yep."

Shrugging, Jay left the infirmary. I watched him go, not because I exactly wanted to, but I was kind of distracted by the way he kept looking over his shoulder at me… or was it Vi?

I finally gave Vi a "look". "What? I'm sure that her injuries aren't _that_ bad. Call me evil, but that boy is _fine_."

"D'you remember when I called you a horny bitch?"

"Aw, c'mon Kayce! Don't be like that!"

I shrugged it off. "Whatever. You should get ready for tonight, anyway."

"Are you really just going to be playing basketball?"

I shook my head. "No. I'll probably stay in and play some video games with Nicholas."

Vi put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm gonna give you some friendly female advice, 'kay? _Don't let that boy become just another one of your video game buddies_. I'm serious! I remember all the hot guys at school hung out with you because you were the gamer chick! So don't let Nicholas become one of those hot guy-friends!" She shook her head. "God, you're an idiot in the female ways! Get him to play basketball or something!"

"I don't even like Nicholas in that way!"

Vi glared at me. "Lemme put it to ya this way; you look exactly like your mom did whenever she hung out with your dad when she was young. Your heads both become tomatoes!"

I blinked. "Hey, how'd you know how my mom… _reacted_ to my dad?"

"Oh, please. My dad _loved_ to trail your mom and dad when they were dating. He'd record them from the shadows. Learned most of his moves to get with my mom from your dad and watching those videos."

"You know my mom's going to murder your dad, bring him back to life, rip out his guts and kill him again if she ever finds out, right?"

"Oh, I know. But then I'd never get to see those videos again."

I shook my head. "God, you guys're weird."

She shrugged. "It's a talent. Now let's get back to the dorm. You can help me pick out an outfit!"

"No."

"B-But I played basketball—!"

"No way in hell."

In the end, I decided to take a nap while Vi picked an outfit for her "almost-date" with Jay. I'd chill with Nicholas later on, and yeah, maybe I'd get him to play basketball with me. My eyes fluttered for a moment, letting me know how tired my muscles were and how I shouldn't get up early on a weekend, before they closed and let me dream.

Or, let me have nightmares.

_"You don't understand—I can help your powers grow!"_

_ I fought to keep my rapid breathing steady. How did I not see this coming? How could I have missed such a vital thing?_

_ "Please, Kayce. I can help! You don't want to become powerful off of anyone's fear anymore, do you?"_

_ "Leave me alone!" I screamed, and charged into the forest. _

_ "You can't run away from me!" he yelled after me, and started running._

_ I was fast. Let's get this straight now—I'm a goddamn race car when I move. But the way he closed in on me when I was sprinting at top speed made me rethink taking track later in the year. He pushed me as soon as he reached me. Pushed my back so hard that I tripped._

I hit the tree, and then he was on me. He squeezed around my throat and kept one of my arms pinned to my side. I struggled to breathe as he smiled and then pressed his lips against mine.

My eyes snapped open faster than I'd ever believed. My heart was thundering in my chest and threatened to break free of my ribs. Immediately, I got to my feet and had a quick drink of water. When I looked at the clock on my bed, I saw that I'd only been asleep for an hour. It was about 7:00pm.

"Goddammit I'm going crazy," I grumbled. "How stupid…"

I felt a bit better though, after resting, and decided that I'd take Vi up on her suggestion. I would go and ask Nicholas if he wanted to play some basketball.

I changed into some shorts and a T-shirt and jogged down the steps of the girl's dorm into the living room. Nicholas was studying for a test we had on Monday; his notes were _everywhere_ on the couch.

"Oh, hey!" he greeted. "Practicing?"

"Yeah. Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to help?" I held the ball out to him.

And, thankfully, he took it. "Yeah, sure. I can definitely do that. I need a break from this stuff, anyway. Felt like my head was about to explode." Nicholas stood, scattering some of the notes on his lap. They floated down to the floor. "I'll pick this up later. Everyone headed out to town, anyway."

"Town?"

Nicholas chuckled. "The government created a town that'd welcome Conduit teens. You can't expect everyone to stay cooped-up on campus, right?"

I agreed.

Nicholas and I, as it turned out, were almost completely evenly matched on the court. I would try to get past him, and he'd block me. But it was the same thing the other way around. In the end, we were both tied at only four points—two scores for both of us.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed breathlessly. "I thought you weren't interested in basketball!"

"That's what I said," Nicholas confirmed with his careful smile. "But I never said I wasn't any good."

I sat on the grass beside the court to catch my breath. "Well, you really helped out. Thanks."

"No prob." Nicholas sat on the grass beside me.

And that's when I realized something. "Where's your pendant?"

Nicholas frowned. "It went missing. Dunno when or where, but it did. Sucks too. It was one-of-a-kind, from my dad."

"Sorry to hear that," I told him with a small shrug.

"No big deal. Maybe it'll turn up. To anyone else, it'd be a piece of junk, so maybe they'd want to find the owner."

"Are you close with your dad?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Not really. When I was little, he'd let me go to work with 'im. As I got older, I wasn't really interested in his line of work, so I dedicated myself to other things. He wasn't entirely happy when I told him I wanted to be in the army. I mean, yeah, a kid in the army brings a lot of good stuff on their family, but my dad wants me to take over for 'im, y'know?"

"I guess. I haven't really given it much thought as to what I wanna be when I get older…"

"History major?" Nicholas suggested. "I mean, Mr. Nelson absolutely _adores_ you. I think you're the only one who could match 'im when he was talking about a certain period in time, like the High Middle Ages."

"I wonder what kinda Conduit Mr. Nelson is…" I wondered aloud absently.

"I dunno. I'd guess beast Conduit, but I've never seen one like _him_. Maybe you should ask; I don't think it'd be offensive, really."

I nodded. "Maybe I will. I'm pretty sure it'd be interesting."

"And I'll be with you. I'm curious too." Nicholas shrugged and smiled his careful smile. "Well, it's late. I should clean up before the other kids come back to the dorm and yell at me for being 'disorganized'."

I chuckled as Nicholas got up. "Have a nice night then."

"You too."

I decided to stay outside with my thoughts and look up at the sky. If I really tried, I could see the faintly glowing outline that domed above us.

_I'll visit Trish first-thing tomorrow, _I decided. _Talk to 'er, she how she's doing. Maybe see if she got a good look at the person who'd attacked her._


	9. Suspicions Arise

Chapter Eight:

Suspicions Arise

I took a shower in the morning and rubbed my neck. The aching muscles hadn't yet decided that they wanted to stop complaining. I decided to visit Vi to see how her "almost-date" with Jay went.

"Come in," I heard faintly when I knocked on her door.

In one look I could already tell that Vi hadn't slept a wink. "Have fun?" I asked.

She nodded, but tiredly. "Great time with Jay. My bed seemed to be jealous though. Kept me up all night…"

I smirked. "Maybe it's pissed at you because of Trish."

"Maybe, because after I told it I'd visit Trish in the morning it decided to let me sleep." Vi rubbed her head. "Hey, lemme get dressed and we'll do just that."

"Sounds good," I replied. "Meetcha downstairs."

I decided to make Vi and me some breakfast while I was waiting for her to get dressed. After finally deciding on eggs, toast, and some bacon, I started cooking. Mom had enrolled me in a cooking class when I was younger, because she hadn't known how to cook when she was young.

_"And I'm not going to have you go through the same shit I went through when trying to learn how not to burn water!"_ I'd remembered her saying.

I chuckled at the memory. I _did_ miss my mom. I missed how, when I never wanted to get outta bed, she'd pick me up out of it and threaten to throw me in a tub full of freezing-cold water. How she used to get angry whenever her favourite team lost, and then she made me think that we were descendants of sailors by the way she swore so much. And I missed when she used to smile and be there for me whenever something bad happened, like when I'd gotten seasick and ended up showing the ocean what I'd had for supper the previous night.

"Get your hands off me!"

I paused when I heard the outburst. It was a male voice, easily, but the hostility in it made me reconsider wanting to check it out.

"Listen to me! All you've done since I've known you is bring me misery! I'm not going to let you do that to anyone else!" It was another male. I couldn't really recognize their voices very much.

The first voice snorted. "Right. Because you're the hero. The goddamn golden boy. I'll keep that in mind next time, if I want to care. But you're not going to stop me, and if you keep living in that fantasy of yours, I'll personally stick you inside of it for the rest of your miserable life, and you'll suffer through it the way _I_ want you to. So stay the fuck away from me!"

I heard a door slam in anger. Tentatively, I opened the door to the kitchen a crack and looked through it. Jay's fists were bunched-up in anger, his shoulders shaking as he tried to get some control over himself. Who was he arguing with?

"You okay?" I asked as I opened the door some more.

Jay looked at me and tried his best to smile. "Oh, you heard that?"

_I'm surprised no one else heard it, actually._ "Yeah. What was that about?"

Jay looked at the door again. "A… disagreement."

"Sounded like a lot more than just a disagreement."

Jay's brow furrowed, but he relaxed and sat on the couch. "Maybe, but it's over with for now. We'll see if my message gets through."

"To who?"

He shrugged. "Best to leave you out of it for now, Kayce. You might not like the end result."

"Hey, I'm you dorm-mate. I should know. I mean, whoever you're fighting with, you'll need a mediator, right?" I sat on the couch opposite him. "Maybe I can help."

Jay considered this by rubbing his chin. "Yeah, I think that'd work. But I'll need to find somewhere secure to tell you my side of the story. I'm sure he's found some way to listen-in. After-all, he ambushed your cousin, Trish. Who knows who else he's manipulating?"

"Who ambushed Trish?" I asked forcefully.

Jay blinked. "What, you don't know? Then maybe you should ask your cousin. It'd be better to ask her than hear it from me, right?"

I nodded. I was going to visit Trish, anyway.

"Hey, do I smell something burning?"

I gasped and shot into the kitchen. I managed to save the eggs, but the bacon was beyond repair. I could hear Jay laughing at me from the living room, but I ignored it and managed to get the toast too before it got burnt.

A while later, after Vi had come down and eaten with me, Jay left the living room and we set off to see Trish. We were allowed to visit her now, since the school's doctors and physicians had verified the extent of her damage.

But Trish wasn't exactly conscious. Vi and I ended up waiting by her bed and talking to her instead, hoping that she'd hear us. I wondered when the school would contact Cole and Lucy, but I had an inkling feeling that they wanted to keep the situation hush-hush until Trish woke up and they found the person who attacked her.

Which made me think about what Jay said again. Ask Trish? How in the hell would I do that?

Vi decided she needed to go to the bathroom a while later, so she left Trish and I alone in the infirmary.

I rested my head in my hands and heaved a sigh. "Who the hell could've done this t'you, Trish?"

One of the doctors came in and saw me, so he strode towards me and handed me a bag. "These are Trish's things. Could you tell me if everything's in there? It would help with our investigation."

I nodded and sorted through Trish's things. It was stuff from what she'd had on her the day she was attacked. She didn't have much—there'd be more if they'd put her clothes inside—but there was something in the bag that I…

"Is everything in there?" the doctor asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Everything's here."

The doctor didn't seem pleased or displeased. "Thank-you. You may keep her things until she wakes up."

_Damn right I am._ "Thanks."

When the doctor left, I grabbed the thing inside of the bag that definitely didn't belong. I'd recognized it instantly.

Nicholas's pendant.

What the hell did it mean? How could Trish have gotten her hands on something that valuable to Nicholas?

Unless he was lying.

Maybe Nicholas really _didn't_ lose his pendant. Maybe _he_ was the one who attacked Trish, but she managed to fight back—if only for a moment—and take something of his. It was a clue for me. But then… did that mean that the person Jay had been fighting with was Nicholas?

I _knew_ I was right! I _knew_ that Nicholas (as made evident by his smile) was just being too careful!

_That's one hell of a lesson,_ I thought with a frown. _That'll teach me for trusting someone in the first goddamn week of school._ I closed a fist around Nicholas's pendant. _Well, I'm gonna make sure that he doesn't hurt anyone else!_

That was when Vi decided to make her triumphant return from the bathroom. "What took you?" I asked.

"D'you know how hard it is to keep looking this good? My five-inch stilettos hurt more than a boxer's face after a match!" she complained.

"Then you shouldn't be wearing those! How the hell're you gonna run away from a bad date?"

"I'll tie 'im up with whatever piece of technology I can find and walk away, looking _amazing_ the entire time."

I shook my head. Vi wouldn't be into that stuff if it weren't for Jay… Speaking of which, I needed to speak with him. Like he said, we'd need somewhere secret. I couldn't trust Nicholas.

Vi and I left Trish and finished up what homework we had as the afternoon waned into the evening. I hadn't seen Nicholas or Jay, but I wasn't too disappointed.

Cy was in the room when I finally went upstairs, deciding it was time for bed. "Hey," she greeted.

"Evenin'." I flopped onto my bed and fidgeted with the pendant in my pocket. "School tomorrow."

"Yep."

_And my attempts at small talk tend to suck. A lot._

I changed into my PJ's and decided that, at school, if I saw Jay, I'd need to talk to him.

But the thought of school immediately made me facepalm. Nicholas and I were still partners in History, and I'd need to be really careful around him.

Or I may end up a l'il worse for wear than Trish.


	10. The First Game

Chapter Nine:

The First Game

Weeks passed. Trish would occasionally wake up from her comatose state, but she'd fall right back in, as if she was sucked inside by a black hole. Like a dream she couldn't escape.

I started to disapprove of the school, and how they were covering it up. It seemed like only Vi, Jay, Nicholas and I. And it didn't help at all that Nicholas was the one who'd beaten her up.

I acted normal around Nicholas, but cold. I hated him. I hated what he'd done to my cousin, and I kept thinking that if I ever got the chance to do the same thing to him, I would. Just for Trish.

But I never ran into Jay when it was a good time. It always seemed that one of us was preoccupied. I had basketball every day after school, and I dedicated myself to it. What anger and frustration I had against Nicholas was poured into practice. It became my fuel.

So it helped a lot when I found out that our team's first game was right around the corner. I worked harder than ever to prepare for our exhibition game against the Sojourns.

Ellie seemed to notice.

She eventually had to drag me forcefully off the court to stop me from practicing. Ellie sat me down on the bench and looked at me, a curious frown on her face.

"I appreciate how dedicated you are to the team," she started, "but I draw the line when you could potentially kill yourself by working _way_ _too_ _hard_."

I frowned. "But I—!"

"No way! None of that!" Ellie's firmness turned into gentleness immediately. So _there_ was the "Fair" part my mom talked about... "Look; we know what happened to Trish. All the Paragons do. I know you're blowing off steam, but if too much goes away then you won't be well enough to play the game. So calm down, and take it slow. If not for yourself, then for the team, okay?"

_Yeah. Okay then. I'll just try to forget that my cousin was attacked by the guy I probably liked and trusted immediately. No guilt there. _"Got it."

"Good job. First lesson on being on a team with a captain; always listen to the captain." Ellie smiled. "We're done practice anyway, so you can head back to your dorm as soon as you change-out. Have a good night, Kayce."

I wished her a good night as well. When I'd changed back into my normal clothes, I walked out of the gymnasium and saw a few Sojourns. They were all female, and I think I recognized two of them. I say, "I think" because I was still a fair distance away.

One looked like Victoria Stafford, a first-year like me. I could probably tell it was her because of her high-heels. The other looked like Elise Fitzpatrick, the third-year who'd been on the train.

It became a second-nature to me to know who was part of which team; the way they held themselves, the way they walked, talked, listened—everything was connected. At first, I hadn't seen the point when I'd been put into the Paragon team simply because of how I walked up to the stage and shook the principal's hand. Now, it made so much more sense.

I passed them without looking at them, but I could feel their glares. That was all it took for them to tell me that I'd be up against them tomorrow.

And the game wasn't gonna be pretty.

I made it back to the dorm fine and started on my homework. It was a Friday, and we were into the year enough for us all to be worried about the pending half-semester report cards.

I also learned that the field around the school to stop anyone unwanted from coming in also stopped our texts to our parents going out. There was next to no way to contact the outside world, so our parents had to trust that we'd be fine. Yeah, until another one of us would be attacked.

A sharp pain suddenly found its way into my palm. I cringed and automatically opened my clenched fist. Nicholas's pendant. I didn't even realize that I'd been holding it. The tip of it had stabbed my hand, and as a result there was blood running down my arm.

"Dammit," I muttered through clenched teeth. "I just can't catch a break…"

I washed my hand and wrapped a long bandage around the wound. I returned to my homework, and only a few moments later after returning his pendant to my pocket, I heard a strange tapping sound.

"What in the world…?" I rose from my bed and followed the sound to the window. I opened it and ended up getting hit in the face with a rock. "Fu—!"

"Sorry!" Nicholas called up, cutting-off my curse. "I just wanted to get your attention!"

_Oh, great. It's him._ "What d'you want, Nicholas? And why'd you throw a goddamn rock at my face?"

"I-I just—!" Nicholas cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I just didn't know how else to talk to you. I mean, cell phones are out. I don't know your number, as it is. And it's not like I can go up and knock on your door." He paused as he tried to think about his next sentence. "I was hoping I could take you into town."

I hesitated. I hadn't been into town yet, and since I wasn't sure how the supposedly "Conduit-friendly" town was. No one had really told me about it. On the other hand, Nicholas attacked Trish, and he could be trying to lure me away so he could do the same to me. And I had basketball the next day. What can I say? Sometimes I tend to be a pessimist as opposed to being an optimist. It happens!

"I have basketball tomorrow…" I said, putting on my best fake smile. "I can't. Plus I have homework."

Nicholas smiled. I could see it from two stories up. "I actually had a feeling you'd say that. So, I gotcha this." He tossed up a bottle of Jones soda that I caught, almost clumsily. It was blue—my absolute favourite. "Good luck on your game tomorrow, Kayce. I'll be the crazy guy cheering in the stands."

"T-Thanks…" I didn't think that Nicholas heard me though; he was already gone.

I put the soda on my nightstand and stared at it harshly, despite the stupid smile on my face. I hoped that Nicholas wasn't a seduction Conduit, because (despite what he did to Trish) he seemed to be doing _something_ to me.

A few hours after my encounter with Nicholas, I had gone to bed and then woke up at 10:00am. I'd need to meet with Ellie and the rest of the team at 11:00am, so it gave me plenty of time.

I was downstairs in the living room when Vi came down, rubbing her eyes and yawning in her PJ's.

"God… I do _not_ wanna be up," she grumbled as she fell onto the couch (ungracefully). "Why'd your stupid game have to be so early?"

I shook my head. The game was at 1:00pm. Vi usually doesn't get up on a weekend until 3:00pm.

"You're so lazy."

"Not lazy; just not motivated." She yawned and stood up. "Well, I guess I'd better get dressed."

"You do that," I said, grinning.

I guess I just relaxed on the couch for a while longer before I made my way to the gym. Everyone was there, save for Ellie and Mina. I absently wondered when the soccer team would start playing. I wanted to see Mina in action (mostly because I wanted to see how hard she could kick a ball).

Ellie eventually came in with Mina's clipboard, but no Mina. I guessed that Mina had something important that she needed to do.

"All right everyone, listen up!" Ellie shouted, quickly grabbing the team's attention. "The Sojourns are a good team! They play well together, and they know their strengths. But they don't know their weaknesses, and we have the privilege of showing them just how many they have, and exploiting them!"

I was beginning to think that Ellie had a love for motivational speeches.

A few minutes of speech later, we were in uniform and getting ready to go. I had a few alternate reasons why we had teams at the school as well; if we went up against Human teams, on the occasion we'd win, they'd probably accuse us of cheating. At least, it was a theory.

So, Paragons were wearing white and a light robin's-egg blue (at least, I figured it was) for the trim, and the Sojourns were wearing purple with gold as their trim. I was surprised when our team was announced and I saw the turnout. At New Marias, it was the last few games that got even _half_ of the people who were on the bleachers now. There were at _least_ a hundred people at the game, and there was still room on the bleachers.

Despite the amount of people, that was when I was most reminded of my old school. And I really knew I missed it then. I decided that, as soon as I had the chance, I'd contact mom, dad, Jace, and all my friends from New Marias. Hopefully, it'd be soon.

I sucked in a breath and was thinking about it the entire time the Ms. Thatcher was introducing the teams. I managed to wave when my name was called so I didn't look like a totally oblivious idiot.

I was the power forward on the team, but Ellie was gonna take the ball from the centre. She was the captain, anyway.

The referee threw the ball up into the air, and the game was on.

Elise, the girl from the train, was the centre for the Sojourns. She jumped nearly as high as Ellie, but she definitely wasn't made for basketball. Ellie caught the ball and tossed it to a teammate. The next few minutes were crucial; moral, and the game, could be decided by the first goal. I was thinking strategy when I saw the ball being passed to me. The Sojourns were closing in on me quickly, so I passed it back to Ellie. I ran surged forward now that the attention was off of me, and Ellie passed it back up just as I was jumping. The moment the ball went into my hands, it was out again before my feet had even touched the ground.

Paragons, two; Sojourns, zip.

No time to celebrate. We were playing a half game, which meant that every time the opposing team got the ball, we'd have to give them half court. Well, until the ball-carrier came over half, anyway.

The first half of the game was a pretty even match. By half-time, Paragons were ahead by four points. Elise had a mean three-pointer shot that saved the Sojourns a dozen times over.

"Okay guys," Ellie said as we sat on our bench, "ten minute break. Be back here in ten minutes exactly so we can look over some strategy, but hurry it up."

I used this chance to speak to Vi, who was jumping up and down excitedly, with Jay right beside her.

"I never knew you could jump so high!" Vi screeched. "Were you holding back against me? Or are you cheating?"

I shook my head. "Games just get the adrenaline going better. And I practiced during the summer, remember?"

Jay was grinning at me. "You're doing great. Vi told me about your basketball career from New Marias. Are you thinking about going pro when you get out of school?"

I hadn't thought about it, but now… "People will _know_ I'm a Conduit. They probably wouldn't want me in, just-in-case I 'cheat'." I said the last word with a little emphasis. I guess I was feeling sour about not being able to pursue basketball later.

Suddenly, I was grabbed from behind. I tensed-up immediately as… Okay, suddenly I was spinning around.

"Woah! Hey, you're not well-enough for that!" Nicholas's voice was filled with concern, but I was having trouble wondering if it was fake.

I was placed back down on the ground and turned to face my "assailant".

It was Trish.

The bruises had faded, but her arm was in a sling. Other than that little thing, she looked fine.

"I guess you're right," Trish replied to Nicholas. "I think I hurt my arm when I lifted 'er up."

"_Trish_!" Vi and I exclaimed, and practically leapt on her.

Okay, scratch-that—we did.

"Gah!" Trish fell back into Nicholas who managed to catch us all before we kissed the gym floor.

"Careful now! I brought Trish down to watch basketball, not football!" The sarcasm in Nicholas's voice made me look up at him. Goddammit he was smiling!

"Thanks, Nick!" Vi said, giving him a pat on the head (but she had to reach). "I was gonna visit 'er today!"

"Actually, I'm not even cleared to be out," Trish whispered, "but Nicholas managed to pull a few strings."

"Did he actually pull strings, or did he kidnap you?" Jay asked, his voice dripping with something I definitely couldn't identify. The change in his voice made me shudder. I'd never heard that tone with anyone.

"Hey! Kayce!" I heard Ellie and immediately ran to the bench after giving Trish one last hug. "About time! I wondered when they'd make it!"

"Eh?" I asked, my head tipping to the side.

She grinned. "Well, you were mopey, so I asked Nicholas yesterday if he'd break your cousin outta that hell-hole they call an infirmary. He was all for it." Ellie's smile started to resemble that of a fox's. "I think he likes you."

God, _now_ I was confused. Getting my formerly-comatose cousin to come to my first game because he _liked_ me? He attacked her!

"Okay, team; last half, and now we gotta make some magic. Kayce, you'll stand by their net at all times when we have the ball. If we don't have it, you'll go after it. You've got the best scoring average of this game, so you've gotta keep it up. But if you know you can't score, pass it. I don't care to who, just do it!"

Ellie debriefed everyone else and we were soon back in the game. We worked hard, but the Sojourns managed to get ahead. There was a girl on our team who didn't especially like passing.

Finally, the Sojourns were ahead by one friggin' point. _One_. _Friggin'_. _Point_. Ellie was kicking it into overdrive, so I followed her example. Goddammit there was one minute left!

The Sojourns passed the half line, and I moved quickly to get the ball. Ellie was ahead of me, so I passed it. She leapt towards the net and shot it—.

But one of the Sojourns rammed into her. Hard. Ellie's shot bounced off of the backboard. On instinct (and a ton of desperation) I leapt, grabbed the ball out of the air, and blindly shot it towards the net as a Sojourn rammed herself into me. I landed on my head and rolled once, onto my knees. My head was ringing like a bitch…

Well, I _thought_ it was my head.

The next thing I knew, my team had dog-piled me. Don'tcha just love it when you've probably got a concussion and have a lot of people suddenly pile onto you like you were a piece of meat?

After suffocating under the mass of girls, I was pulled out and cheered.

Never mind; there _was_ a ringing in my head.


	11. Into The Enemy's Hands

Chapter Ten:

Into The Enemy's Hands

It was the night immediately after the game. I was sitting in my room and reading, just trying to concentrate on something other than the minor (yet annoying) pain in my head. Trish was let out of the hospital and going to attend classes like regular the next day.

I shut my book and sighed. It didn't feel right. _Nothing_ felt right. Trish had been walking along with Nicholas so casually into the gym. It was easily a ten minute walk from the gym to the infirmary, and at any time he could've attacked her again.

Then again, Trish (after I'd spoken with her after the game) didn't really remember anything. She'd looked so tired, as if she didn't sleep at all when she was comatose.

I heard a tapping on my window and immediately thought of Nicholas. My body moved on its own and opened the window quickly.

But it was Jay. "We needed to talk, remember?" he said.

I nodded, but I was disappointed. I _had_ hoped—God, I was such a terrible person.

"Where?" I asked.

Jay pointed towards one of the benches. "Meet me there. As soon as you can."

I nodded and slid the window down until it shut. I ignored the disappointment I felt and jogged to the bench after practically falling down the steps.

Jay was standing by the bench. I noticed that it was the one he'd been sitting on when Vi and I first met 'im.

"Where's Vi?" I asked.

He blinked. "She's upstairs in her room. She told me she was turning in for the night. Why?"

I shrugged. "Just wondering. It seems a bit suspicious since you're practically dating 'er and we're meeting by a bench in the cover of night. No biggy."

"Oh, right…" Jay rubbed his chin. "Then we should walk. This way?"

I didn't even pay attention to the way. "Sure. Now, you're gonna tell me about Trish's attacker, right?"

"Yes, I am." Jay cleared his throat. "I'm sure you know him already, and I'm sure you know _exactly_ who he is."

"I want to hear it first." Jay looked at me, almost confused. "I just wanna be sure."

Jay nodded. "Nicholas. It was Nicholas."

"And why're you so goddamn sure it was him?"

Jay snorted as he attempted to hold back a laugh. "Because I know him better than anyone else. I can understand that you're reluctant to accuse him and see the truth since you're so infatuated with each other."

"I am _not_—!"

"Don't even lie; that's beneath you, Kayce." Jay stopped us and grabbed my arm, albeit gently. "You need me to help you against him. He wants control over everything, and everyone. We're Conduits; we can do this. We can help everyone!"

Jay's grip became harder to escape as I attempted to take my arm back. "Jay, let me go."

"Don't you want to help people?" Jay asked, ignoring me. "Look; if he gets his way, it's all over!"

I made myself look as threatening as possible, but I knew that if he saw through it, I wouldn't be able to do anything. I never could.

"Help me, _please_, Kayce!" Jay begged. "I just want to help!"

"Jay, let me go!"

Jay blinked and then released me. I absently rubbed my hands together and cringed when I touched the still-sensitive wound on my palm that I got from—.

"I didn't know his pendant could do so much damage," Jay remarked with a half-grin. "A pity that you were the first to find out."

And then, it clicked. "How _did_ you know that it was Nicholas's pendant?"

Jay's smile faded. "Hm? Oh, lucky guess."

I suddenly became aware of where we were. The middle of the forest on campus, in the dead of night. With only Jay, who knew about my stupid little mistake with Nicholas's pendant?

"What the hell're you playing at?" I snapped as I started to back away. "D'you think I'm stupid?"

God, I _knew_ I was stupid. I'd jumped towards an accusation with barely any proof. I didn't even look at any other facts. Hell, I didn't even know Jay very well!

"No, I don't," Jay answered carefully as he slowly pursued me. "In fact, I think you're very smart, Kayce. To me, it was always you. Never your cousin _Violet_ _Chance_. I know all about you. Your family, your lineage, your powers. I can help with that, you know."

I continued to step back. I was alone with Jay—the asshole who'd attacked my freakishly acrobatic cousin—and my options were slowly running out.

"I don't want you're help!" I seethed. "I'm fine!"

"Even I know you don't like them! I see the way you are! Always afraid! I can help with that, Kayce! You don't need to be afraid anymore!"

My breathing suddenly accelerated. I could somehow _feel_ his presence on the borders of my mind, just begging me to let down every wall I'd ever built and let him in.

"Get out of my head!" I shouted.

"You don't understand—I can help your powers grow!"

I fought to keep my rapid breathing steady. How did I not see this coming? How could I have missed such a vital thing?

"Please, Kayce. I can help! You don't want to become powerful off of anyone's fear anymore, do you?"

"Leave me alone!" I screamed, and charged into the forest.

"You can't run away from me!" he yelled after me, and started running.

I was fast. Let's get this straight now—I'm a goddamn race car when I move. But the way he closed in on me when I was sprinting at top speed made me rethink taking track later in the year. He pushed me as soon as he reached me. Pushed my back so hard that I tripped.

I hit the tree, and then he was on me. Jay squeezed around my throat and kept one of my arms pinned to my side. I struggled to breathe as he smiled and then pressed his lips against mine.

I tried to scream, but I was running out of air. He took his mouth away and sighed in exasperation.

"God, I never imagined you'd taste this good!" he gasped, and licked his lips. "It's too damn bad that you didn't—."

He was ripped off of me and thrown nearly ten feet away. My knees buckled and I hit the forest's ground, coughing to get some air in my lungs and holding my throat gently with my hands.

I heard Jay get up. "_You_!" he growled.

I was terrified as I heard them start to fight. The sound of flesh hitting flesh and bones breaking made me want to curl up and pretend I didn't exist. Here I was, a fear Conduit, a person who became stronger off of others' fear, and I was completely helpless. The only fear was my own.

Jay was hurled into the tree and fell on top of me. He angrily picked me up and put a knife to my throat.

"Don't fucking move!" he screamed, and started to back away from Nicholas. "I'll slit her throat if you do!"

The only one who was afraid was me.

And boy, I didn't like it.

"Put the knife down, James," Nicholas said, his voice suddenly firm and commanding.

Jay spat some blood out of his mouth. "Not in your life, brother."

_Woah! Wait a goddamn second! Brother?_

"James, listen to me! You knew what'd happen when you attacked Trish! You knew that soon someone'd come and kick your ass right to the moon because of it! Give up now, and you can still walk away with minor charges."

Jay laughed. It was the same one from that time when I'd heard him fighting with someone. It didn't exactly take Sherlock Holmes to deduct that it was Nicholas now.

"What are you, a cop? You're not very good at talking anyone down, are you?" Jay pulled the knife closer to my throat, drawing blood. I tried not to gulp. "I heard from father that you wanted to be a soldier in the army. How much longer will you pretend to hold onto you're 'Holier Than Thou' approach? It's not fooling anyone!" Jay laughed again. "Well, I guess it fooled Miss Grey here! Go on! Tell him about the puppy-eyes you've been making to him! It's a bitter irony, isn't it?"

_Irony?_

"Let. Her. Go."

I could almost feel Jay smile. "_Or what_?"

Nicholas hesitated. That was all Jay needed.

"I suppose you're not cut-out for this," Jay said with a fake sigh. "Or your 'soldiering'. Too bad."

Nicholas' eyes widened as Jay lifted something above his own head. God, I can't see a damn thing! What the hell's he doing?

"James, don't—!"

I felt something stab into my neck. I knew it wasn't a knife. Too skinny, and he was holding one at my throat anyway. It suddenly became extremely hard to breathe, and I was gasping for air.

Jay let me go and ran. I could hear his footsteps pounding against the dirt and into the distance, but Nicholas didn't pursue him.

"Kayce! Fuck, keep your eyes open!"

I was barely aware that I was hugging the dirt now. Nicholas picked me up. Everything was spinning. He pulled the thing from my neck. A needle. A goddamn. Friggin'. Needle.

"C-Crack…?" I managed to get out.

Nicholas laughed half-heartedly. "No. Not crack. None of that. C'mon, keep looking at me! Don't close your eyes!"

I didn't know why, but I felt the sudden urge to vomit. Everything (and I mean everything) was hurting like a bitch.

But there was something ten million times more important that I needed to tell Nicholas. I grabbed his shirt (which also hurt) and gathered what thoughts I had.

"I…" My words choked. "Sorry…"

Nicholas blinked. "Sorry? For what?"

I couldn't get the rest of the words out. Against my will, my eyes closed.

**Trish MacGrath**

I was catching up with Violet upstairs in my dorm. God, it was nice to be outta that stupid infirmary! But I wasn't looking forward to my homework at all. Violet had a lot to say, most of it questions. Stupid Violet questions, like: "What's it like to be comatose?" "What do you dream of when you're comatose? Embarrassing things?" And then, the one I absolutely cannot answer: "Who attacked you?"

"I don't remember. I never got a good at 'im."

Violet frowned. "Well, that sucks. Kayce was really trying to find out for you."

I blinked. Kayce? Violet had a more adventurous spirit than her! Plus, Kayce was usually one who tried to talk things out. I doubted that she'd want to simply "talk" with whoever knocked my block off.

"Geezus, I find that hard to believe," I replied.

She shrugged. "Kayce's really protective of us. Haven't you noticed?"

I didn't. Not at all. I mean, I'd heard about the occasional schoolyard scuffle she'd have, but…

"When we learned you were a Conduit, I remember the first thing she said. 'I hope she won't have to use her powers'. That means she wanted you to stay out of danger. And then the next day, when she got to school, she got in a fight because some kids found out you guys were related and called you a freak." Violet smiled, as if it was a fond memory. "She kicked their asses. Royally. I mean, she never fights! And there she was, barely a scratch on 'er, and a bunch of kids rolling on the ground in pain. Kayce was practically covered in what blood she'd drawn from them!"

I suddenly remembered Kayce's nickname at her school, but I'd always thought it was for basketball!

"That was where her nickname came from?" I asked.

"Hell yes! No one dared to say a thing after that!" Violet spun around absently. "Now, about your homework…"

I looked out the window. Something caught my eye, and I didn't like it.

A boy was strolling in front of a mass of people, all neatly in a line. He turned towards the dorm.

"Um… Violet?" I said quietly.

"What?" She looked out the window with me. "Wait a sec… Jay?"

Jay raised a hand above his head, and suddenly, the kids behind him attacked. They used their powers to set the dorm on fire!

"Get down!" I tackled Violet to the ground as the window exploded. Glass fell on top of us.

"What the hell?" Violet screeched. "What's going on?"

"We've got to get outta here!" I yelled. "Hurry!"

We got to our feet and ran to the fire exit. Some kids were waiting out there for us. I recognized them as a few Sojourns, Heroes, and hell, even a Paragon or two were there!

"Back inside!" a boy growled as his body turned to solid metal.

"Screw that!" a girl behind us jumped over us and planted her feet firmly in metal-boy's face. He fell backwards into the dirt, the girl perched on his face still. "Go!"

We ran. Kids were following us, some of them throwing their powers at us, others running for their lives just as desperately as us. Where were the goddamn teachers when you needed 'em?

I saw someone else running a little further from the cluster of students, but they were coming closer to us. I almost nudged Violet in warning, but I got a closer look at them.

"Nicholas?" I exclaimed, and then I saw something—or, rather, someone—slung over his shoulder. "KAYCE!"

"She's unconscious!" Nicholas explained quickly. "It was Jay. He was the one who attacked you. He had a knife to Kayce's throat, and I couldn't stop him—!"

"A knife?"

"Only a minor wound from that," Nicholas assured me. "But she needs medical attention as soon as possible! Jay injected her with something!"

"What? How the hell could he get drugs past the perimeter?"

Nicholas looked downcast. "He'd always been smart. He loved chemistry. Loved everything about it. As soon as he learned he was a Conduit, his love became an obsession." He caught my questioning look. "He wanted to increase the power of a Conduit. Him, specifically."

I decided that Nicholas would need to explain later. We were still being attacked from behind. "Where can we go? The train definitely isn't here!"

The girl who'd kicked metal-boy's face ran up beside us. I recognized her now; Mina, the Paragon team leader.

"The town," she said. "We can set up defensive positions and hopefully get a signal out. The town has its own barrier, and we can get them to turn it on once we get all the runaway students inside."

"Sounds good," I agreed readily. "Ready, Violet?"

She nodded. She still didn't fully understand what was going on. Hell, neither did I!

But one thing I did understand was that I was gonna kill Jay, bring him back from the dead, and feed him his own insides before killing him again!


	12. War Room

Chapter Eleven:

War Room

**Joan Grey**

Every parent's worst nightmare: getting a call about your child. A bad call about your child. So, whatever worry I actually had in my system, by now, had increased as we entered the secret facility that our government had hid conveniently in a place that was completely off the grid, yet right under our noses (okay, so I didn't really know where I was. Sue me).

Cole glanced at me and his frown deepened. "I'm not exactly looking forward to this," he said.

"How d'you think I feel?" I replied with a whisper as we passed a few more men in suits. "I'm this close to killing someone."

"I'd like to see that," Alec muttered as he popped up out of absolutely nowhere (but it was obvious he'd been scoping the place out). "The U.S. sure has a lot of security systems trained on us right now. So much for good faith."

I remembered what Alec meant. A few men came to my door in the middle of the night, said something had happened at the school, and they needed me to come with them. First mention of Kayce and I was on board. And my worry only got larger as I saw Cole, Lucy, and Alec. All of us, Conduits. All of our children attending that school.

Not. Good.

We were led into a room with a large, circular table. All sorts of images were jumping off of it, but I recognized a lot of them. The Conduit Academy was the most prominent one.

Behind the table across from us was a tall, gruff man with a set frown on his face. I'd watched enough movies to know that the badges on his chest meant he was a General.

"Good morning," he greeted in a voice that practically commanded authority. "I wish we could have met under better circumstances, but things rarely work out that way."

Cole was the first to talk, probably because he knew I'd make a smart-ass remark. "Who're you, and why're we here? What's happened?"

"My name is General John Anderson." He inclined his head. "You're here because your children are in danger, as are the children of others."

"What kind of danger?" The ice on Lucy's arms flared up a bit, like they did whenever she was stressed or angry.

Anderson wasted no time, and was completely unfazed by Lucy. "There's been an attack on the school."

We stood there for a moment in shocked silence. The only sounds were the people in black suits running around, taking some calls, talking to each other.

"What?" I snapped finally. "That place was supposed to be safe! What the hell happened?"

"Calm down, Mrs. Grey—."

"Like hell I will! My kid's in danger! What the hell're you doing about it?"

Anderson narrowed his eyes. "Ma'am, we're doing the best we can, but at the moment, it's damn near impossible to do anything." Anderson pressed a button on the edge of the table. A 3D blueprint of the school popped up, followed by the entire campus. "The government designed it so no one would be able attack it from the outside."

"So how'd they get past?" Alec asked.

"They took the train," Anderson replied.

Cole leaned forward. "A student?"

"We got an emergency transmission from the artificial town within the campus borders. A second-year student is leading a group of extremists bent converting, or destroying, the next generation of Conduits. He's killed a few students already, with several wounded, and the faculty have been captured. My guess is that they're keeping the faculty alive just-in-case they need a bargaining chip to get them out, if things go wrong."

"Do we know who the second-year is? And what about the children not in his little 'group'?" Lucy asked, the ice in her arms dying down.

Anderson brought up a dossier. There was a boy about sixteen years old, with blonde hair and blue eyes in it. He looked like the typical American teenager, actually.

"His name's James Alexander, the illegitimate son of Jacob Young and half-brother of one of the other students there, Nicholas Atticus Young." Anderson returned to the image with the campus. "The children who managed to escape James Alexander made their way to the town. They can't escape the borders unless the train is there, and we currently can't run it. And before you ask if there are others, this is the only one. It was specially equipped." Anderson looked at us. "If we have any chance of helping those kids, they need to shut down the barrier around the school from the inside."

"Let me guess," I grumbled, "its smack in the middle of the campus, and Mr. Alexander's little group is standing guard?"

"Correct."

"Why did I totally see that coming…?" I placed my hands on the table. "Do we have a list of survivors?"

"The transmission was brief; there's no way of knowing unless they actually manage to shut the field down."

My shoulders slumped. Kayce… God, Kayce could be dead. Alec quickly came to my side and put a hand on my shoulder.

"We thought it best to inform you all before we reach out to the Human families," Anderson admitted. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can really do. I can post some of my people around the barrier to see if it ever comes down, but that's it."

Cole extended his hand. "Thank-you, General. Can we leave now?"

Anderson took his hand and shook it firmly. "Of course. I'll have my people escort you out."

A few minutes into the walk back, I could feel the insane, forboding cloud above us. Who knew what was going to happen?

What am I thinking? Kayce's alive! I know it! And she'll fight back! Just like Violet and Trish, and all of those other students! I clenched a fist. Until then… I have to wait.

**Violet Chance**

My hands were shaking as I watched the doctor examine Kayce again. She'd been out for a few days. Nicholas had told us what'd happened, but no one was entirely sure what the hell had been in that needle. Hell, I could barely believe that Jay was the one who attacked Trish! But… it made sense at the same time. He was too perfect, and I always caught him looking at Kayce.

"Heart rate has stabilized again," the doctor murmured. "Another dose of sedative is needed, just to be safe…"

And during the days that Kayce was out, she'd been screaming bloody murder. Once, and only once, she woke up. I was right beside her, so she grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me close to her. The look in her eyes was painful.

"Make it… stop…!" she muttered to me. "It… hurts…!"

And then, just like that, she was out of it again. I wondered if it'd been actual acid that Jay had injected into her, but that probably would've killed 'er outright.

"How's she doing?" Trish asked as she came up beside me.

I shook my head. "She almost died again. Her heart almost stopped, Trish…"

"I know." Trish wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Just hold on, okay? Kayce's like her mom in a lotta ways. She can pull through."

"I hope you're right. I can't take much more of this bullshit…" I shook my head. "God, everything's gone t' hell."

"I know," Trish repeated. "It's almost like our families're doomed to have bad things happen to 'em. Like we're simple pawns in a story." Trish made a sad attempt at a laugh. "Well, if so, I hate the writer."

But, she cheered me up. That was saying something. Mina was taking it upon herself to lead the refugee students, with Ellie close at hand. Any Hero or Sojourn with us didn't argue at all. Most of their teams had joined Jay, one of our first-year Paragons included: Hunter. Never really liked 'im, anyway.

"How's Kayce?" Nicholas's step was silent, as usual, and succeeded in making Trish and I jump about ten feet in the air. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare."

Trish caught her breath. "She's okay… Hopefully for a while now."

Nicholas nodded and stood beside us as we watched the doctor move around the room to the other more seriously wounded kids.

"The doctors took a sample of Kayce's blood," I told him. "They weren't able to find out what the hell Jay did to 'er."

Nicholas hung his head. "This is my fault…"

"What makes ya say that?" Trish asked.

"I should've been faster. I knew what he was gonna do, but… I didn't act. He caught me by as much surprise as he did anyone else."

"Why didn't you report him?" Trish snapped fiercely.

"No one would believe me if I did, so I decided to take 'im down myself. But… he got t' Kayce."

My hand tapped the railing of the window furiously. "Why Kayce? Of all the people…!"

"Kayce's a fear Conduit," Trish said. I looked at her, almost stunned. Kayce never talked to me about what kind of a Conduit she was. Now, I knew why. She was ashamed. "She hated it. I could see it. She didn't wanna be strong off of someone else's fear. That meant she was more of a villain than any kind of hero." Trish looked at me. "Jay saw an opportunity with Kayce. She could join him and use her power freely, because people would fear her. Plus, her bloodline's important. I mean, he attacked me, so he got me outta the way until I was conscious again."

"How's it important? Auntie Joan's just dad's sister-in-law, and your dad's friend."

"I once asked dad how Kayce was related to me," Trish admitted. "He only told me a half-truth. He said, until I got older, I'd have to wait for the full story." Trish looked back at Kayce. The doctor was putting a breathing mask on her. "Her grandfather's Kessler, that lunatic from, like, around twenty years ago."

I stared at Trish. "What. The. Hell?"

"I know, right?"

"That bastard had a kid?"

"Auntie Joan."

"Geezus," Nicholas muttered. "I'd hate to be researching that family tree."

"Kayce doesn't know, so try to keep quiet about it." Trish sighed and looked at Nicholas and I, who were looking at her like she just told us she'd grown four more arms. "Well, I guess we'd better go see Mina and—."

We all suddenly slammed against the wall. Painfully. Shattered glass showered us, but we all managed to cover our heads. Nicholas pushed whatever had been thrown through the window at us off of us.

"Oh, shit," he muttered.

"W-What?" I murmured in response.

I got to my feet (helped by Trish) and looked through the broken window. Kayce was standing, her hands balled into fists, her hair standing in almost every direction, and a strange blue aura surrounding her. Her eyes were the exact same blue, and they were glowing.

"That's not what a fear Conduit's supposed to do, is it?" I asked, pointing at her.

"Not at all," Trish said as Nicholas moved the gurney that Kayce'd thrown through the window out of the way (it was the one she'd previously been lying on). "Something tells me that this isn't gonna be good."

I couldn't agree more.

Kayce unclenched her fists and shoved a blast of the blue aura at us. All three of us got into cover to avoid it. Whatever the aura hit got some major damage done to it.

"What the hell's she doing?" I yelled. "This is a friggin' hospital!"

Trish looked over her cover. "Kayce! Stop it! What the hell're you doing?"

In response, Kayce tossed another blast at us.

"I don't think she can hear you!" Nicholas yelled to us. "What're we gonna do?"  
>"I've got a way to get through to 'er!" I leaped over my cover and dived to another one. Kayce missed me by inches. I continued in the pattern until I was practically in front of her. So, I slapped her, hard, across the face.<p>

The blue around Kayce disappeared instantaneously, even the stuff in her eyes. Kayce fell on the floor, out cold.

"Damn," Trish muttered. "That was one hell of a slap!"

"How'd you know that'd work?" Nicholas asked.

"I didn't," I admitted, shrugging. "I improvised."

And my improvisation hurt my hand. A lot.

"What the hell was that?" Nicholas asked finally.

"Dunno," Trish said, "but I have a bad feeling that it's something t' do with our good friend James Alexander."


	13. Let The Games Begin

Chapter Twelve:

Let The Games Begin

_**Kayce Grey**_

_Ugh… My head… Why does it feel like I was run over by a freight train repeatedly…?_

"What the hell was that?" I heard Nicholas ask.

"Dunno," Trish replied, "but I have a bad feeling that it's something t' do with our good friend James Alexander."

"_Please_ don't say that name in front of me," I grumbled, moving a hand to hold the side of my face that felt like it was burning. "I'm feeling sick enough as it is…"

"Hey! You're okay!" Vi squealed, practically jumping on top of me.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I exclaimed, attempting to get out of Vi's grasp (she was squeezing me too hard. It felt like my organs were exploding). When I finally did, I shook my head and moved my hand to my neck. "Oh. Right. _That_."

Trish kneeled beside me and rested a hand on my shoulder. "Hey, are you gonna be okay?"

I nodded slowly. "I'll be fine. I mean, I think whatever he did didn't work." I grinned. "It only made me unconscious. What a damn idiot!" I was the only one laughing, so I stopped after about a minute. "What?" There was a knock at the door. I looked, and saw the destruction around me. "Woah… What happened here?"

"Just what I was about to ask," Mina grumbled distastefully as she looked around. "What the hell did you guys do? This is a goddamn _hospital_!"

"_Someone_ had a rough time waking up," Trish said quietly.

I glanced at her. "W-What?"

Mina frowned at me. "She's awake?"

"No shit, Sherlock," Vi mumbled darkly, standing up.

Mina ignored her comment. "Kayce, how're you feeling?"

"Well, not to complain, but I feel like someone slapped me across the face." I rubbed my cheek again and glanced at Vi, who turned crimson. "Wait a sec! _You_ _slapped_ _me_?"

"I improvised!" she replied quickly.

"_Improvised_? Goddammit I'm a friggin' _fear_ Conduit! Not a psychotic, telekinetic weirdo!"

"Coulda fooled me…"

I was _this_ _close_ to hitting 'er. Payback and all that.

"As much as I like watching family sitcoms, I think it's about time I stepped in." Mina helped me up from the floor. It was a bit hard for me to stand, but I figured it was because of how light-headed I was feeling. "We have a war to plan."

"War?" I exclaimed.

"In case ya haven't noticed, we're in the artificial town on campus," Mina explained. Trish helped me out to walk while Mina led us through the hospital. "James attacked the dorms that had students in them that hadn't joined him. A few of us…" I followed Mina's glance into a room where some bodies were being covered. I recognized a few of the uncovered faces. "A few of us didn't make it." Mina continued to walk, so Nicholas, Vi, Trish and I followed. By then, I was feeling well enough to hold my own, so Trish just watched and helped if I stumbled. "There's no escape from here. The town has a barrier similar to the campus', but it isn't as strong. We don't know how long we'll hold out, much less the barrier. So, we're doing our best."

"Hey! I need a goddamn doctor over here!" I heard someone yell. I recognized their voice, somehow…

A few doctors rushed by us. We were in the lobby of the hospital. This was where the bodies and the wounded were most prominent. Mina was right; a lot of us didn't make it.

"Move it! C'mon, let's go!" another voice yelled. God, it was like it was the exact same voice…

There were two girls ordering the doctors around. One was wearing a black tank-top and green cargo-pants. She had guns strapped all across her body, and they all looked like something I'd seen out of a history book. They were maybe twenty-year-old guns. The other one was wearing all black, but it looked like some kind of flexible armour. Her hood was drawn back onto her shoulders, but from how pale she was, I guessed that she usually had it up. Daggers were strewn across her body, some shuriken across her chest, and there was a shotgun strapped to her back, about as old as the other girl's.

But here's the kicker; they both looked exactly like a younger, teenage/young woman version of my mom.

"Dilyn, help me out here!" darky snapped.

"I've got my hands full over here, Quinn!" cargo-shorts (Dilyn) replied.

I looked at Vi and Trish, who—in return—looked at me.

"Am I dreamin'?" I muttered.

"Please pinch me," Vi grumbled in response.

Finally, the doctors made it over to the people that Quinn and Dilyn were helping. Quinn groaned and stretched as Dilyn walked up to her.

"Fabulous place you've dropped us," she said, fake gratitude dripping from her voice. "Hard to believe that you 'n I get stuck here, when everyone else made it home! Goddammit I wanna be in my dimension already!"

"It's gonna take time for me to recharge, you idiot!" Dilyn snapped.

"Well, helping these stupid kids out ain't helping!"

Dilyn rolled her eyes. "Dammit, Quinn, you're more of a drama queen than Rhea ever was…"

"Don't compare me to that whore!"

"Why not? Technically, we're her. She's us. Just like—." Dilyn saw me then and stopped in her tracks. "Just like Kayce."

Quinn followed Dilyn's eyes. When she saw me, she smiled. "Hey! It's our psychotic, fire-bending, personality disordered counterpart!"

"… Huh?" I said. _Okay, she did _not_ just call me psychotic…_

Quinn jogged over to our group and gave me a really hard slap on the back that made me fall over, face-first into the floor.

"What's up? How's the timeline been goin' for ya?" she asked with a huge grin.

As I got to my feet, Dilyn grabbed Quinn's hood and jerked her backwards. "You idiot! This isn't her!"

"What're you talkin' about? Red hair, green eyes, a dumb look on 'er face—."

"Hey!" I snapped.

"—Easily provoked; Dilyn, this is definitely her."

Dilyn cuffed Quinn on the head. "Smartass! This. Isn't. Her! Joan—!"

"Kayce!" Quinn interjected.

"_Joan_," Dilyn insisted, "has a giant-ass nodachi strapped to 'er back! She's got nothin'! Plus, Joan has a few scars. This kid's clean."

I lost it then. I don't like it when people talk about me right in front of me, even if it's good. "Hey! Why the hell're you talking about my mom, goddammit?"

"Mom?" Quinn thought for a moment, and then lit up like a lightbulb. "Oh, I get it now! We changed the timeline, and you dropped us in its future!"

If _I_ looked confused, I couldn't even imagine how Mina, Trish, Vi or Nicholas looked. "Eh?"

"Sorry 'bout that," Dilyn said. "My name's Dilyn, and this is Quinn. We're from a timeline different than this. I was dropping more people like us back in their home timelines, back from killing a guy named Makarov, when I ran outta juice. We landed here, and we've been here for the past few days."

I scratched my head as it tilted in confusion. "You've gotta be kiddin' me…"

"There's no kidding here," Quinn said matter-of-factly. "Until portal-girl here gets her juice back, we're stuck in this timeline. So, we have to make do."

I groaned. "_Okay_ then… Well, my name's Kayce. Joan's my mom." I glared at Quinn. "Her name isn't Kayce. That's mine. And this is Trish and Violet—my cousins. Mina and Nicholas're my friends."

Dilyn looked at Vi and Trish closely. "Hm… Y'know, you look a lot like Cole MacGrath… And you have some Alec Chance in ya…"

"Alec's my dad!" Vi said excitedly.

"Cole's mine," Trish admitted.

Quinn grinned. "Ha! Looks like some things didn't really change! But wait a sec, if Cole had a kid, wouldn't that make Trish your aunt, and not your cousin…?"

"_What_?" Vi, Trish and I exclaimed.

Dilyn brought up a fist and slammed it onto the top of Quinn's head. Quinn slammed into the floor, hard enough to daze her.

"Forgot about what that idiot said," Dilyn grumbled. "She's delusional. Taken too many hits to the head. She just wants t' get back home."

Quinn glared at her counter-part and pulled her hood up over her head. "Whatever, idiot!"

"Nice come-back." Dliyn frowned at her. "Look; let's just try t' get through this without any incidents, 'kay?"

Quinn crossed her arms and said nothing, but she seemed like she was agreeing. I shook my head. _These people're crazy…_

"Hey, Kayce!" Ellie waved at me from a ways away. "You're up!"

I nodded. "Y-Yeah. How're you?"

"I've been better. This definitely wasn't on my 'to-do' list." Ellie came over to us. "Unfortunately, it seems like the barrier around the town's about to be breached. I'd give it a few hours at the most, but we've gotta set up a defensive perimeter."

"I can help with that," Nicholas offered suddenly. "I've checked the area. I know where the best places would be."

"Then it's appreciated." Ellie looked to her friend. "Mina, d'you wanna help?"

She nodded. "Duh."

"What's gonna happen?" Vi asked suddenly.

We looked at her. "What d'you mean?" Mina asked.

"What if they get through? What then?"

We were all silent for a moment, but it was Ellie who spoke next. "Then it's kill or be killed."

I hoped it wouldn't come to that.


	14. Assault of the Vicious

Chapter Thirteen:

Assault of the Vicious

"What weapons do we have?" Mina asked as she walked beside Ellie.

"The town's lent us a few guns—rifles mostly—while they look for the stuff they'd been reserving for their commandos," Ellie replied. "They were waiting for a few Conduit commandos to come to the town. From what I hear, they got distracted along the way by a few people they used to go to school with who happened to become bad guys. They're still fighting."

I wondered why'd the town needed commandos to be around, but then I decided that they probably just needed some crowd-control if any one of us got out of hand.

"We're setting-up some barricades near the shield," Ellie explained further. "No one's getting through unless they're stepping over my dead body!"

Trish and Vi went back to the hospital to help with the wounded. Mina, Ellie, Nicholas, Dilyn, Quinn and I were gonna be on the front lines. Nicholas had argued that I wasn't well enough, but Ellie said that they needed all the help they could get. And anyway, I wasn't gonna make a big deal about a tiny needle. Some kids had half their bodies burnt to a crisp, and they were _still_ holding weapons.

_"Get ready!"_ someone yelled over a loudspeaker. _"They're starting to get into formation!"_

Quinn handed me two handguns. "Have fun," she said with a smirk.

I gulped.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Nicholas asked.

I looked at him. His rifle fit perfectly to his shoulder. There was dirt all over him, but he had the same careful eyes and smile that he always wore. This was where he loved to be, and he wasn't sure if I belonged here.

"I just… We're _kids_. _Students_. We're not fighters," I answered honestly. "I don't wanna take any lives, and I'll aim places where I won't kill 'em, but I'm not gonna hesitate if they're trying t' kill me."

"They won't hesitate either," Nicholas said. "These kids're following James. If that means that they're doing it willingly, I'm not gonna hesitate. But if they're hypnotized by him somehow, then I won't shoot to kill."

We focused on the distance. People were marching. The looks on their faces wanted to kill us themselves. I could see Hunter and a few other kids I recognized from a few classes. Most were second-years. I think the only Sojourn we had on our side was Victoria Stafford.

And in the front was James.

I glared at him. He saw me and grinned, but otherwise ignored me.

"I know you all can hear me!" he yelled through the shield. "Surrender now and join me, and I can guarantee your survival! But if you resist, you will be wiped-out without mercy, and tossed aside like an insect!"

"And we're giving you this chance, James!" Mina yelled back. "If you surrender, you can still get away with this! At the most, you'll get a few years in the adult prison if you plead insane! But if you continue this, you're writing your own death warrant!"

James laughed. "Is that a threat, Paragon?"

"I don't make threats."

He ran a hand through his blonde hair. "I guess I should explain some things before you all die…" He motioned to the army of kids behind him. "We are the Vicious! We will not bow to the rules of Human society any longer! This is a world for _Conduits_! It's _our_ playground! And to let go of Human society, I've decided that the name given to me is dull and unneeded. My name is Bishop, and to all who oppose me, that is the name of the person who killed you!"

A few kids shifted uneasily. I took in a few deep breaths in an effort to stop myself from hyperventilating.

He didn't wait for Mina's reply. "_Attack_!"

The kids slammed their powers and weapons into the shield. I could see it start to flicker, and then it was spastic.

_If I don't make it…_ I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The guns in my hands were shaking. _No. I _will_ make it! I'll definitely make it!_

The shield came down, and the battle was on.

I fired at their legs and managed to take down a few kids, stopping them from coming close. But there were lots, and I wouldn't be able to stop them all. Powers flew in all directions. I found myself stretched to my limit, trying to dodge all sorts of attacks. Someone I didn't really recognize slammed into me and shoved me onto my back. He pressed a gun up to my throat—.

Quinn slammed into the kid and pushed him off of me. He rolled a few times and then aimed his gun up, but Quinn was way too fast. She kicked the gun out of his hand, punched his jaw upwards, and then pressed her shotgun at the bottom of his jaw. She pulled the trigger without any remorse, and then moved onto the next Vicious member.

I got onto my feet. The battle was raging around me. Everyone was focused on everything and nothing. I ran through the thick of it, shooting anyone I didn't recognize as an ally in the legs or arms.

And then I felt him behind me. I whirled around, pressing the barrels of the handguns to his chest. Bishop's hand slapped me across the face, hard, before I could even register that I was about to kill him. I hit the ground and turned onto my back without a second's hesitation.

"I'm upset that you didn't take my offer," he said to me. I aimed the guns at him again, so he kicked them out of my hands. "But you're still pretty pathetic. All this fear around you, and you're still weak."

I glared at him. "Shut-up!"

"You're not even a fighter," Bishop continued, "so why continue to oppose me?" I didn't answer. "Are you my personal renegade then?"

"Whatever you do," I said, "I'll fight you."

He smiled. "Then that's the case."

I got up and ran at him. The kids who'd died, the attack on Trish—everything was poured into my hate for him. I leaped towards him. He brought up his hands to stop me. My breathing slowed as everything else did. My only focus was Bishop.

Suddenly, Bishop was blasted back. He slammed hard into a wall and glared at me.

"Looks like you _do_ have some fight in you."

_**Trish MacGrath**_

__Explosions were sounding outside. The hospital itself was being rocked. Rubble was falling, but the building was sturdy. It'd take a few good hits to collapse it.

"Calm down everyone," a doctor was saying. "Please, we need you to remain calm—."

"I don't think anyone's listening to that guy," Vi grumbled. "Geezus, when's this gonna end?"

"It's only been going on for a few minutes," I reminded her. "I'm guessing this could last hours."

She sighed, and then suddenly perked-up. "Hey! I know!"

"Know what?"

"How I can help!"

"One of my cousins're already out there getting attacked! I'm not letting another go out!"

Vi shook her head. "No! Y'see, I can find where the generator for the shield is! I can get it back online!"

I looked at her, grinned, and then hugged 'er. "You l'il genius! I'll help out, but we've gotta hurry."

Vi nodded. We proceeded through the hospital, asking some people who lived around the town where the generator was. Some gave us good directions. And then it came time for us to actually leave the hospital to find it.

"Not looking forward to this," Vi mumbled.

"Neither am I," I admitted. "But if we can trap them or keep them out, then we'll have done our part."

We charged into the thick of the fighting. With luck, we'd be able to reach the generator without any troubles. Swerving around the fighting Conduits, we dodged anything sent our way. I looked ahead and saw Quinn and Dilyn, back-to-back, firing as many curses as bullets. Mina and Ellie's faces were like stones as they tried to avoid any unnecessary deaths. Nicholas was aiming at the legs of any attacking kids in hopes of crippling them.

"Where's Kayce?" I yelled over the screaming and shouting.

"I can't see 'er!" Vi replied just as loudly. "Don't worry; it doesn't mean she's dead!"

"I hope not!" We eventually made it to the brewery, where the generator would be. I slammed my shoulder against the door, and it gave in.

Vi hurried ahead of me to the generator. "I see it!" she exclaimed. "Gimme a sec, and I'll work my magic!"

"Hurry it up!"

Hands flying around at nothing, Vi made the link into the generator's systems. Her eyes closed as she connected fully. I paced. Explosions were getting closer. It'd be only a matter of time before—.

A wall of the brewery suddenly had a hole in it, and Kayce came flying through. She rolled on the ground a bit before coming to a complete halt, and then she stood up again.

Hunter stepped through the hole, followed by a third-year I didn't recognize. Both of her arms had been connected to guns, so you couldn't see her hands anymore, while the bottom-half of Hunter's mouth and part of his neck looked like it was spewing lava.

"Aw, the poor baby's arm's broken!" the third-year sneered. "Looks like you've got a l'il problem!"

Kayce looked exactly like she had when she'd first woken up earlier in the day, blue eyes 'n all. She looked down at her broken right arm, but it looked like she was completely uninterested. Kayce glared at Hunter and the third-year.

"Worry about yourself," Kayce said clearly. "I'm still alive."

Kayce had a cocky smile on her face that I'd never seen before. It was like she _knew_ she was gonna win, and _nothing_ would stop her.

"Maybe you dogs should go back to your master," she chided. "Didn't I break his fingers, one-by-one, only a few minutes ago?"

"And your arm's been coated in lava," Hunter pointed-out.

With that cocky smile, Kayce shrugged. "It's no big deal. The nerves're already off, so its not like I feel any pain."

Suddenly, she attacked. That cocky grin changed into a sadistic smile as she slammed her foot into Hunter's jaw, effectively throwing him into the wall like a ragdoll. Dodging the bullets the third-year shot at her from her hand-guns (literally), Kayce got close enough for every shot to be ineffective.

Kayce grabbed onto both guns and flipped. The guns were ripped out of her arms, spurting blood everywhere as the third-year screamed in agony. Kayce threw the guns to the side and grinned.

"Like I said; worry 'bout yourself."

And, just like that, Kayce was gone.

Hunter groggily crawled to his feet and stumbled over to the hole in the wall. I ran at him and kicked him right out, hoping he'd fall and knock himself out or something before I ran to Vi.

"Vi, you wouldn't believe—!"

"I'm focusing here!" Vi cut me off as if I'd invaded her homework time. "I've almost got it…" I kept my mouth shut as I waited, and then suddenly, I heard the shield crackling. "Yes!" Vi exclaimed. "They've got about a minute before they're trapped in here!"

I hurried to the hole. I could see the light blue outline of the shield cascading around the town. Everyone else noticed it too.

"Retreat!" James roared above the chaos. "Don't get trapped inside!"

Our side cheered and screamed at the kids running for the school. A good portion of kids got out, but some of the others (mostly those who were wounded) didn't get there in time.

I saw Quinn land on top of one of the bigger guys and tie him up with some rope. "You've got the right to shut the hell up!" I heard her say.

God, I hoped aunt Joan didn't say anything like that when she was younger. Then again, she probably did.

More kids came around with rope and captured the others. They were led off to a basement somewhere. I wasn't around to listen. I was looking for Kayce. Vi trailed behind me, just in case I missed anything. I'd tell 'er what I saw later.

I finally made my way into a building that was almost totally rubble. It looked like it could've been the firehouse. Vi and I crawled past the debris and made it out to the side that hadn't crumbled. Bodies littered the floor; some were alive, others weren't so lucky.

And there, slumped against the wall with her ruined arm splayed by her side, was Kayce.

She weakly raised her head and regarded us with her familiar smile. She didn't have that creepy aura around her anymore.

"I guess… Bishop actually… _did_ manage something… eh?" she mumbled quietly. She suddenly cringed from pain, but I didn't know where it was coming from. "D-Damn… that bastard…"

_Bishop?_ I repeated in my head. _No, first we've gotta get 'er to the hospital. I'll ask 'er later._


	15. Innocence of Youth

Chapter Fourteen:

Innocence of Youth

_**Kayce Grey**_

__"I guess… Bishop actually… _did_ manage something… eh?" I mumbled, loudly as I could. My arm suddenly erupted in pain, but I did my best to hide it. It didn't look like Trish or Vi were convinced though. "D-Damn… that bastard…"

Trish tiptoed past the kids on the floor. All of it was my fault. All their pain, and all of their deaths. Some had even begged for mercy, but I wasn't in a state to give it. All the blood around me made me sick, and I had to fight back the bile in my throat.

"What happened here…?" Vi muttered.

I did a poor imitation of a shrug. "Bishop… sent them after… me…" I coughed. Blood came out. "Shit… I tried to… take it easy… Didn't work…"

Trish finally made her way over to me. I didn't think she'd noticed yet. After all, it blended in pretty well with my bloodstained clothes.

"C'mon; you need to get to a hospital," Trish said.

I laughed painfully. "Too late… for that…"

"What're you talking about? We can make it there! You just have to get up!"

I smiled. "You still haven't… noticed yet?" I lifted my left arm—that in itself took up a lot of energy—and rested it on the rusted and bloodstained steel bar coming through my chest. There was one more through my left thigh. "I'm… done… Trish, Bishop… controls dreams… He made me see… something that… wasn't there… And then he… stabbed me—."

"Don't talk! Goddammit _shut_ _the_ _hell_ _up_!" Trish roared. "You're gonna be fine! And I'm gonna be there to tell ya, 'Told you so!' when you are! So just shut-up so I can get some help!"

I coughed again, this time more painfully. "If it missed… my heart and lungs… then I'll stick around to… buy you guys… some pop, 'kay…?"

Trish blinked. I didn't know she was crying. "_Fuck_!" she cursed. "Vi! We have to hurry! Get doctors, get someone! Let's go!"

They sprinted out of the building, yelling at the top of their lungs. I knew I'd be lucky if I made it through the night. I also knew that mom would definitely survive something like this. I mean, sure, she'd be bedridden for a while, but she had a healing factor. An unfair advantage.

_I wasn't made for this,_ I thought dully. _I should be at a normal, Human school right now. I should be complaining with my friends about teachers and classes, going to parties and living a good life. Not caught in the middle of a war zone…_

My thoughts were the only things keeping my eyes open. Yeah, I was pissed and I was pitying myself, but… No, I had no excuse. There were lots of kids who were in my boat. I had no reason _at_ _all_.

"Over here!" Vi's voice drifted through the debris. "She's over here! Just hurry up!"

The building suddenly crumbled further. The way that Vi and Trish had gotten through before was done for. I heard colourful cursing on the other side and looked at myself. The bar in my thigh was smaller than the one through my chest. If I could get that one out first…

I planted my right foot on the ground and slowly moved the bottom-half of my person upwards. God, it was agony. It was like I was in Hell. I knew it hadn't hurt that much going in—it was faster, and more of a shock. This pain was breaking me. No; I was past my breaking point.

It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, either. That meant that I'd lose more blood, and I'd have a hell of a time trying to survive. But it'd take everyone a long time to get through the rubble if I didn't help.

I moaned in agony as my left leg came free of the bar. I tried not to focus on the blood that was mercilessly gushing out of my leg. I was too busy wondering why the hell I was so cold as it was.

I carefully started to move forward. It was a whole new area of pain as I tried to slide the bar out of my chest. I can't count how many times I screamed. I think I blacked-out once. I'm not exactly sure though.

And then I felt it—or, rather, I didn't feel it. I fell onto the floor beside one of the bodies, smiling because I was free, crying because it hurt like a bitch. I adjusted my head so I was looking at the rubble and raised my left arm. The blue aura coated around it, and I was sure it was around the rest of me. I willed my new power to help. I willed it to move the rubble.

Piece by piece, it moved. Every once-in-a-while, I had to stop to rest. Breathing was damn near impossible. I could hear voices on the other side, so it wasn't like I could just blast a hole through it.

"Okay, just stand back," I heard someone say finally. "_I'll_ get this done."

Stephanie Wallace. Another first-year Paragon. She'd made breakfast for us on the first day.

Boulders shifted out of the way with ease for her. She was definitely in a better condition than I was in. I inhaled some fresh air as the last large boulder revealed the room I was in with the bodies. By that time, all would be dead.

"Got 'er!" Stephanie said, a triumphant grin plastered onto her face.

I couldn't help but smile too. The next thing I knew, hands were on me and carefully lifting me through the hole onto a stretcher. Immediately, the doctors got to work on my wounds, even bandaging up my ruined arm.

I saw a needle in a doctor's hand. He saw my look and smiled. "Morphine," he explained, "to dull the pain."

I nodded. I got to close my eyes and blot out the world. In my head, none of it was happening. Not this stupid fight between kids. I could catch snippets of conversations as the doctors rushed past everything to the hospital. The frontline hadn't been broken through. There were lots of bodies in no-man's-land, but none of them were civvies. _At least we saved _them_,_ I thought absently. And then I simply drifted off into sleep. A dreamless, and strangely cold one.

_**Joan Grey**_

__"We've received another transmission from the kids," Anderson informed us with urgency. "That's why you were brought here today."

It wasn't just Cole, Lucy, Alec and I this time. There were some Human parents as well, but we weren't in the war room anymore. We were inside the government headquarters based in New Marias. Closer to home, I guess.

"Is there any way we can get in touch with them?" one of the Human parents asked, her voice filled with worry.

"That's another reason why you're all here." Anderson got one of the men in suits to turn on a television. "A few kids were recording what was going on, and managed to pass it on through the shield."

"How?" Lucy asked suddenly.

Anderson moved to the side. "Allow me to introduce Dilyn and Quinn."

I facepalmed as soon as they came through the door. "I should've known…"

"Hey! Kayce!" Quinn greeted.

"_Joan_," I corrected hastily.

"Before any questions are asked, we managed to get through because I'm a portal Conduit. I can make portals through time and space," Dilyn explained. "And before ya start yellin' at me, I can't bring all the kids through. That's not how it works, and it'd be a pain to explain how it _does_ work, so just hear us out."

Quinn held up a DVD. "I didn't catch the name of the kid recording, but lemme just say this; he's been taping it all since the very first attack, all the way up to the first assault a few hours ago." Quinn looked sternly at everyone. "There's lots of wounded, and there's almost as much dead. _No_ _one's_ getting' outta this one unscathed."

Quinn handed the DVD to Anderson, who popped it into a player. We focused on the TV with unwavering eyes.

_Kayce… Trish… Violet…_ My hands clenched into fists as we saw the carnage. The boy—whoever was taping—was running away from a dorm on fire. He turned the camera to look back at it and saw a kid fall. I'd seen death enough to know that she wasn't one of the survivors.

It skipped ahead slightly. He was still running, but with a group. The camera skimmed to the side, and I saw Trish, Violet, a boy about their age, and Kayce slung over his shoulder. I tensed.

The next scene had the boy slowly moving through a hospital. Heavy orange sheets covered the dead, while lots of the wounded didn't have a bed, and I knew there were only so many doctors. It reminded me of Empire City a lot. And then I saw the boy focus the camera in on a group. I recognized Trish, Violet and Kayce—not to mention the boy from before—and they were following an African-American girl. She looked like she commanded respect from them, and they easily gave it. The boy filming said something about her being the Paragon team leader. It must've been the team that those four were on.

And then came the hard part. A few of the parents started crying when the battle came on. They could recognize their kids, and some were dying. My fists were clenched so tightly that they were drawing blood. I saw Kayce in a few glimpses of the camera, but she wasn't using her powers. In fact, those didn't look like her powers at all.

She attacked a blonde boy. I could see her focus as she did. And then two people grabbed her and threw her, a boy spitting lava from his mouth. I didn't know if it hit. Finally, I saw the barrier start to shine, and the retreat was massive.

The DVD suddenly cut-off then. I felt like hyperventilating. I wondered if Kayce was okay. I wondered if _everyone_ was okay.

"I'm bringing this to the Pentagon," Anderson stated as one of his men handed the DVD to him. "From there, they'll announce a crisis within the country, and we'll be able to send the United States Army to the scene. A full bombardment may be able to weaken the school's shields by forty percent if we continue it for a few weeks."

"A few weeks?" someone yelled. "Our kids are _dying_, General!"

"I understand that, sir," Anderson said calmly. "What we need you to do right now is take a few breaths and hope for the best. That's all you can do for now."

People started to leave, but the Admiral stopped us; the only friggin' Conduits in the room.

"I want you four on the front lines," Anderson explained evenly. "When that shield goes down, I want you to go ahead and get as many kids as you can out of there. The shield may not stay down for long, depending on the circumstances it was deactivated."

I looked at Cole, who frowned. He thought about it for a moment before he came to a decision.

"You got it."


	16. Treating Wounds

Chapter Fifteen:

Treating Wounds

_**Trish MacGrath**_

__"Hey! No way in _hell're_ you getting anywhere near me with that _thing_ in your hand!" Kayce yelled.

"It's to make sure you're okay—!" the doctor replied, attempting to remain calm.

"I don't care! I _hate_ needles!"

I sighed. It'd only been one day since Jay—or _Bishop_, as he decided to call himself—attacked the town. He'd been forced to retreat because of Vi's quick thinking, but…

_One_. _Day_.

I felt sick just thinking about it. Sure, we lived in an unnatural time, where people ran rampant with powers that lots couldn't explain. It was a difficult time, but still…

_One_. _Day_.

I shook my head. It took Kayce one goddamn day to heal-up from those injuries. It wasn't until Vi and I returned with help that I noticed the blood on the poles, and the wounds matched-up.

_She's a fear Conduit,_ I thought automatically. _How the hell can she heal so fast? … Maybe for the same reason that she doesn't have the powers of a fear Conduit anymore…_

The thought straight up scared me. What the hell had Bishop done to 'er? I wished I could find that answer, but I wouldn't be politely chatting with _him_ any time soon.

Kayce suddenly burst out of the room and sprinted down the hallway. The doctor ran to the door, panting, and looked at the direction she went. And then he looked at me.

"I thought she was on the verge of death yesterday!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.

"She _was_." I sighed. "I'll go after her. Hopefully, someone'll catch 'er and convince her to come back."

The doctor frowned. "Fine. Then I'll go back to treating those who actually need it."

He shut the door. I frowned. _Touchy_.

So I went after Kayce. My thoughts of her were drowning me. I was so worried, and now that Quinn and Dilyn were gone…

_What was that about me being her aunt anyway?_ I wondered. _That'd be… awkward. Plus I don't even think that'd work, since I'm technically not related to aunt Joan… _

I groaned. I hated when dad avoided my questions about aunt Joan and uncle Lance. It just brought up confusion and suspicion for me.

"I'm not gonna go back! Lemme go!"

_Huh. Someone caught Kayce._

"You're going back. That's final." Nicholas's voice was firm and unwavering, different from his usual casualness.

"B-But it's a needle…"

"What are you, four? It's a tiny prick. You were wounded, so you're gonna get through this or I'm gonna knock you out and we'll do it that way."

"… Ugh… Fine…" I could hear the clear defeat in her voice. I couldn't help but think that, if it was anyone else trying to get her t' take a needle, she'd put up more of a fight.

I peeked around the corner and saw that Nicholas had Kayce slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The image made me giggle a bit.

Nicholas's shoulders slumped and he let Kayce stand on her own two feet. "Kayce… I was hoping we could talk in private…"

"About what?" Kayce asked.

I facepalmed. God, she was a complete idiot when it came to stuff like that!

"Just that… well, when this is all over… you and I should probably go out." Nicholas cleared his throat. He turned his head slightly so I could see how furiously he was blushing. "I-I mean, I should take you on a date, and if that doesn't work out after, it's cool, but I just—."

"Sure."

Nicholas paused. "Eh?"

"I said, 'Sure'. What? Wasn't that the answer you wanted?"

"W-Well yeah, but…"

"But what?"

I saw Nicholas smile. "Nothing."

_You're both idiots,_ I thought automatically. _We're in the middle of a warzone! Make puppy-eyes somewhere else!_

Kayce's eyes darted my way and she glared. I was a million percent that she'd seen me, but how could she? _I didn't make a sound!_ And not making a sound was my specialty!

"Kayce?"

She focused on Nicholas again, ignoring me this time. "Hm?"

"I'm pinching your arm."

Kayce looked down at her right arm. "Oh… I guess you are."

"Was it something Hunter did?"

"Well, he _did_ puke lava onto my arm. I'd imagine that my nerves're probably burnt to a crisp."

Nicholas frowned. "So, you can't feel anything?"

She shook her head. Great, so she could heal from two metal cylinders that pierced her body, but lava on the arm? I guessed that that was asking too much.

"I'll be right back," Kayce said suddenly.

I decided that was my queue to leave, so I started walking. I wondered what was going to happen next, considering that Bishop had retreated, but it seemed like his retreat was only temporary…

"Trish." I turned around and faced Kayce, who gave me a lazy half-smile. "Hey."

"Hey." I returned her smile. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Well, you eavesdropped, and you pretty much know about my injuries…" Kayce shrugged. "But hey, it's no big deal."

I leaned against the wall, and Kayce did the same. "You… You said something before, Kayce…"

"Hm?"

"You said that Bishop could control dreams. What happened?"

Kayce's smile vanished in an instant. "Well… After I fought that third-year and Hunter, I went to look for 'im again. I found him right by where the barrier should have been, and I attacked him and—." Kayce shook her head. "I stopped. Bishop threw out his hand like he was trying to stop me, and the next thing I knew I was fighting mom. I stopped because it was my _mom_, and I'd never hurt 'er. But it was still Bishop, and he beat the crap outta me. I was so confused, because, in my head, I was wondering why mom was there. I wondered where Bishop had gone, and why mom was attacking me. And then it made sense. You were attacked, but you were out of it for weeks. You were just sleeping, and Bishop had put you there." Kayce laughed, but very slightly. She seemed to be finding humour in how easily confused she'd been. "But I realized it too late. The next thing I knew, Bishop was there again after playing with my subconscious mind and creating the figure of my mother. I didn't have any time to react. He pushed me, and I tripped over a body. Then there was an intense pain, and then nothing. I passed out. Well, until you and Vi came."

I sighed. "So, that bastard…"

"We're gonna stop 'im," Kayce said suddenly. Her voice was filled with a confidence that I'd never heard from her before. She, who usually ran away from fights and would rather talk her way out of a situation. "And I'm gonna kill 'im. I'm gonna teach him what real pain is."

I ignored her last statement. I was sure it was just talk, anyway. Kayce wouldn't do something like that. She didn't have the stomach. And then I remembered when she'd ripped off the guns from that girl's arm, and I wasn't so sure…

"Do we have a plan?"

Kayce looked about as serious as an army general. "The barrier around this town is infinitely weaker than the one around campus, so that means we'll need to take out the generator to escape. With Vi on our side, that should be a piece o' cake. But the problem is that its in the main building, where the teachers are currently being held, and where Bishop's made his main base. We'd have to get past an army to deactivate it, and with barely any protection, it'd be a suicide mission."

"We're dead if we just sit here," I pointed-out. "We'll run out of ammo, or food or water. If we don't try, we'll be dead for sure."

Kayce nodded, considering this. "We'll need to run it by Mina and Ellie. Maybe they can come up with a plan."

I nodded in agreement. "I have another question though, if it's okay?"

"Shoot."

"Okay; your new powers."

She smiled. "_Way_ better than a fear Conduit's power, huh?"

"But that's just it; you _are_ a fear Conduit. You were _born_ with that power!"

"I know…" Kayce looked sad again, but it also looked like she'd put a lot of thought into it. "But I know my limits, I know what I can do, and I don't have to scare people to help them. Much as I hate to admit it… Bishop helped. I think that's why he called me a renegade. Because he thought I was his when he changed my powers."

"So, what can ya do?"

She thought a moment. "Well, I can throw pulses of energy—."

"Experienced that."

Kayce smiled. "Right. My strength is also slightly enhanced, and I can sometimes hear people's thoughts." She narrowed her eyes at me. "Thanks for that comment earlier, by the way. I heard that. Anyway, I haven't really found anything else yet, but I'm not really comfortable extending my boarders quite yet."

"Understandable," I said, slightly unnerved. "Anyway, we'd better go talk to Mina and Ellie now. Maybe we can get a force to attack the main building and get this friggin' barrier down."

"Hells yes," Kayce said, almost relieved. "I can't _wait_ to go home. And Human kids think _their_ school's hell…"

I laughed. At least Kayce was still making jokes, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for 'er. It was like her whole perception on life had been changed because of the change of her powers and the war zone our school had become. Not to mention that I couldn't imagine how she was taking losing the feeling in her right arm so easily.

_That smiling face is hiding a shitload of pain…_ I thought absently, and silently prayed that Kayce hadn't heard me.


	17. A Running Leap

Chapter Sixteen:

A Running Jump

_**Kayce Grey**_

Mina placed her hands on the table and stared me right in the eye. Everything about her seemed strained recently, and she definitely looked tired, but the fire in her eyes hadn't died out. I couldn't help but admire her tenacity as a leader.

"Come again?" she said, the hope in her voice suddenly making me feel pretty proud of my plan.

"We attack Bishop and shut down the force field," I repeated, "and get the hell outta here. From what I've seen around the campus, mixed with the knowledge of a few second and third-years, there're tons of ways to get to the main building. We have to exploit that, and get a large team to infiltrate and destroy that force field for good."

"And what's the catch?" Ellie asked as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You're making it sound too easy."

"All plans sound easy," I told her, "but you're right—there's a catch."

"Knew it."

I cleared my throat and gently placed my hands on the table, and looked the Paragons in the eye. "The team that goes… Well, to say the least, it's practically a suicide mission. The generator is at the top floor of the main hall, which is no doubt where Bishop's decided to make his home. On top of that, he has an army of rogue students who're gonna try to kill us all on sight, and he has the teachers held captive somewhere inside." I tapped my fingers on the table. "If we can somehow free the teachers and get them to tell us the weak spot on the generator, then our problems will go down tenfold. Unfortunately, that still leaves us to deal with Bishop and his army."

"We took out a lot of 'em," Mina pointed-out. "They've got to be recovering from their losses too."

"That's what I'm countin' on." I stood up straight and put my hands on my hips. "To start, I'm volunteering. I'm not forcing anyone to join-up; I'm only taking volunteers. And out of them, only those who know the danger. And anyway, people always need _someone_ to take a first step before _they_ take a running leap."

Mina snapped her head up. "Then I'm goin' with ya. I can't have you gettin' lost as soon as you leave the town."

"Me too," Ellie said quickly. "Someone's gotta keep the ball-cruncher in line."

I grinned. "Then that's three. Hopefully, more will volunteer."

"I'll get on the intercom," Mina offered. "I'll let everyone know, and tell whoever wants to join-up to meet us in the lobby in two hours. That seems like enough time to decide if you want to risk your life or not, right?"

Ellie shook her head, not in disagreement, but rather as if she'd never be able to get her leader.

"It's settled then," Mina exclaimed, slapping her hands together excitedly. "Well, I'll go get it done then!"

I sighed as she left, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from my chest. I was grateful that Ellie had left as well without asking me why I was so relieved. I was practically ecstatic that they'd volunteered. Knowing they were on my side just brought our survival up by about a million points.

I decided to take a walk outside by the barrier. I needed a moment to myself, plus I needed to practice trying to touch things with my right arm and _know_ it was moving. I found a building a little farther from the hospital and touched it, then closed my eyes and tried to memorize how it felt. For a second, I thought I was moving my hand across its rough surface, but when I opened my eyes I saw that my hand was in the same place.

"Damn…" I muttered. "Well, that's inconvenient. If I'm gonna fire a gun or punch someone, I should be able to know I'm doing it… Don't wanna find myself accidentally choking someone on my side because they're pissing me off…"

I heard a bark suddenly, and it made me jump about ten feet in the air. After I'd calmed my racing heart, I dared to turn and look. It was a sleek black wolf/dog thing, and it was just sitting a few paces away from me.

My first thought?

_Oh my God! It's a puppy!_

My second?

_It's… so… _cute_!_

(I dunno why, but I find big dogs absolutely adorable. It's my Achilles Heel.)

I patted my hand against my thigh. "Here, puppy! C'mon!"

(May I also note that this was a full-grown animal, and not, in fact, a puppy? Like I said, Achilles Heel.)

The dog looked confused as it padded up to me, but it seemed to be trying to ignore the looks of adoration I was giving it. It slipped its head underneath my right hand and seemed to smile a bit.

"Aw… You're a cutie, aren't you?" I asked in a completely ridiculous, animal-lover voice. "Aren't you?"

_**"Please, please, **_**please**_** don't talk to me like that."**_

__I jumped, pulling my hand back and staring incredulously. "D-Did you just talk?"

_**"No, you read my mind. I figured that that'd be one of your powers, since you kept getting uncomfortable whenever someone walked by you. Animals can't talk." **_

__I blinked and sat on the ground. "_Nicholas_?"

The dog/wolf tilted its head to the side. _**"What? Wasn't it obvious? I mean, all of those puns that James kept dropping…"**_

I snapped my fingers in realization. "So you're a beast Conduit!"

_**"Duh."**_

I cleared my throat. "Um… about that cutie comment earlier…"

_**"I won't tell if you don't."**_

"Gotcha." I looked around to see if anyone was watching. "So… did you just go for a stroll or somethin'?"

_**"Well,"**_ he said, pawing at the ground, _**"I realized that I hadn't gone for a run in a while, so I just decided to go out for a bit. Then I saw you, and I figured we could walk together. I was just about to turn back, actually."**_

"Should I turn around?" I asked. "I mean, are you gonna be—?"

_**"Naked? God no! Geez, I don't tear outta my clothes or anything! You watch too many horror movies…" **_Nicholas shook his furry head. _**"I'm fully clothed under here. Don't ask me how it works; I'm just glad that it does."**_

"Yeah, me too. Didn't wanna be caught in _that_ awkward situation…"

_**"Tell me about it…"**_ He walked off, pretty much telling me he was gonna change back. I didn't mind; he probably just wanted some privacy.

I tapped my foot against the wall of the building for a bit while I was waiting for him. I didn't even notice when he came up behind me.

"I'm back," he announced, once again scaring the crap outta me. "I'm not hairy anymore, either, as cute as you thought it was. Good thing you're an animal person, I guess."

I frowned at him for scaring me for a second time in less than ten minutes. "Haha. Very funny. My sides're splitting."

"I noticed." Nicholas smiled. "So, what were _you_ doing?"

I pursed my lips. "I was just touching stuff."

"I noticed that too," he said. "Only it was with your right arm."

_I keep forgetting that he's good at details…_ "I'm just testing it out."

Nicholas tilted his head. "For what?"

"Oh, nothing. I just volunteered for a suicide mission and am trying to get used to the feeling of no feeling."

Nicholas laughed at that. I guessed that my sarcastic take at the truth really _did_ feel like sarcasm. When he saw I wasn't laughing or smiling, he still had a smile on his face, but he looked confused.

"Were you serious?" he asked carefully. "You weren't serious… were you?"

"I'm _dead_ serious," I said. "Hey, it's a pun!"

Nicholas facepalmed before he came over to me. "Woah, so you just volunteered to leave the town and fight James?"

I blinked. "How'd you guess so easily?"

"Are there any _other_ bad guys keeping us inside a giant dome and killing us off?"

"Homer Simpson?"

Nicholas rolled his eyes. "Don't even." He put his hands on my shoulders. "You're sure about this? You could get worse done from this than an arm that can't feel any more."

I smiled up at him. "I _need_ to do this. It's my fault that we're here, anyway; if only I'd been a little faster, we could've caught Bishop and—."

"We obviously weren't meant to get James then," Nicholas interrupted swiftly. "Blaming yourself isn't gonna help a thing, Kay. There was nothing you could do; he'd fooled you all. He's my responsibility, anyway."

"Yeah… you guys're brothers. I remember him saying something like that…"

"Half-brothers," he corrected. "We share the same father. Dad was married to my mom, and since he's the owner of a company, it makes sense that he'd need an heir. Mom found out that her chances were almost zero if she wanted to have a kid, and so my dad went into a whacked-up depression that had him screwing around—literally—with women he barely knew. James was the product of that. The woman, however, didn't tell my dad that she was pregnant, and so she was eight months through by the time she contacted him. Well, during that time, my mom had found out what dad was doing, and, in a desperate attempt to keep him from divorcing her because she couldn't produce a male heir, seduced him into bed." Nicholas shrugged. "And that's where I came in. When dad found out about James, he didn't hesitate to help the woman take care of him, but James wouldn't inherit the company. James and I met on several occasions, mostly on our birthdays, but we were never friends. James always blamed me for what he believed was rightfully his. I told him once that he could take it, but he thought I was just feeding him bullshit."

"And so you became enemies," I finished for him.

Nicholas smiled weakly. "Yeah. I guess that this whole thing is just a hissy-fit to make a name for himself. That's why he wants to be called 'Bishop'."

"This is one _hell_ of a hissy-fit."

Nicholas suddenly looked downcast. "Kayce… Look, I know we haven't had much time to get to know each other, and I'm happy that you wanna go for a date with me after… But I want to ask you something. Something serious that really, really means something for me."

I blink in confusion, but nod. "Shoot."

"Will you try to kill James?"

I remembered what I'd told Trish. Yeah, I wanted to kill him. I wanted to rip his guts out and skip rope with them. But Bishop was Nicholas' brother… _No, what he's done means everything. He's killed people! He's killed _kids_!_

_**"So have you."**_

I ignore the voice at first, but then I realize that someone would have to have been reading my mind for them to have an answer like that. I realize that Nicholas is waiting for my answer, so I ultimately decide to investigate later.

"I'll do whatever it takes to get this barrier down," I answer evenly and honestly.

Nicholas's expression remained unchanged. "I hope he'll back-down. He's my brother, despite what he's done. I can't let him die."

I nodded. "I understand that, Nick. But… I can never forgive him."

"I can't either, but we share blood." Tentatively, Nicholas put his left hand in my right. "We have to stop him, but I don't want to kill him."

I wondered what the next day would bring. I wondered what would happen, who we would lose, or if I'd even see anything after the next twenty-four hours. It was crucial to me that I did.

"If he can be stopped without him being killed…" I gulped. "Then I'll help."

I really did hope that I _could_ kill him.


	18. We Will Be Remembered

Chapter Seventeen:

We Will Be Remembered

When Nicholas and I returned to the hospital lobby, we were surprised to see so many who came. I recognized Victoria Stafford—heels and all—among them, along with Trish, Vi, and a two other second-years.

"I'm joining too," Nicholas whispered to me.

Mina saw me and smiled. "Hey there! It's about time you've showed!"

"This is it?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yep. Luckily, the townspeople lent us some really cool weapons and armour we can use against Bishop. They're equipped with miniature generators that simulate the barriers around the towns, but they're compact for a person. Sounds cool, huh?"

I grinned. "Hells yes. Where can I get some o' that?"

"It's in the waiting room. Everyone's picked out their armour already." Mina smiled. "Based on what would fit them, of course. The townspeople also gave us some customizable items to use for our armour. I guess they wanted us to really make it count against Bishop."

"I'm sure they do, since they're well-being also depends on us." I looked over the faces in the room quickly and then made my way to the waiting room, Nicholas following closely behind me.

_**Trish MacGrath**_

__Kayce took her time as she got ready. I sat on the floor with Vi beside me, her navy-blue armour shining and spotless. I chose armour that looked like it'd been used a little more, just-in-case, since I didn't want to find out that I had to break-in the new armour. And mine was red, so it was good.

"What's taking so long?" Vi asked, though it seemed to be mostly to herself. "Are they even _trying_ to get dressed…?"

"All you can think about is sex, isn't it?" I retorted smartly.

Vi scoffed. "I think about how school's hell. Not _only_ sex."

"You're thinking that they're not getting their armour on because they're too busy undressing each other," I pointed-out.

"Duh. I know they like each other. They have since the entrance ceremony." Vi grinned wickedly. "Plus, the sexual tension between them was killing me!"

I looked at her blankly. "Um… You must've been the only one who felt that."

Vi looked like she was about to reply, but that was when Nicholas and Kayce decided to come out. Nicholas, already dark, tall and imposing, looked even more like a man than a boy in his shining black armour, with a white stripe running down his arm. His shoulders were sporting large pauldrons that had been included with the armour, but no one had equipped them before him. His gun was resting on his shoulder as if it belonged there, and he looked more than comfortable with it.

Kayce, however, was a different story. I don't mean a "different story" as in she didn't look comfortable at all. What I mean by "different story" is that she looked more than comfortable, like she belonged in that armour. This was a totally different Kayce—not the one I'd travelled with on the train—but at the same time, she was exactly her. Kayce had a stern look on her face as she walked out of the waiting room in her steel-grey armour. Only her right shoulder was sporting a pauldron similar to Nicholas', and the body of the armour was different, but she looked just as battle-ready as the rest of us, considering her rifle was being held in front of her as if one false move would give us a bullet to the head.

Vi and I stood up, along with the rest of the volunteers. We knew exactly what we were doing by going for this suicide mission, and we knew the risks, but we weren't gonna let Bishop win. And I knew that I'd never be able to look my dad in the eye again if I didn't do what I thought was the right thing.

Kayce looked us over just as she had before entering the waiting room and sighed. It looked like she was putting in a lot of thought to what she wanted to say to everyone.

She cleared her throat and looked at each of us in the eye before she said anything. "First of all, thank-you all for volunteering. If you're still not sure if you want to do this, you can leave, and no one will hold it against you." Some people shifted slightly, but no one left. Kayce closed her eyes and almost sighed in relief. "Thank-you."

"So, what now, O fearless leader?" Mina asked, smirking.

Kayce blinked in surprise. "Eh?"

"You're the one with the plan; you've got reins on this operation," she clarified.

"B-But you and Ellie—!"

"Me and Ellie what?" Mina chuckled. "Y'know, the morning of the basketball try-outs, I knew exactly where I wanted to put that one person on the board. I figured I'd give you a little test, since you were there. And you put the person just where I wanted 'em." Mina stood up straighter and rested her gun lazily on her shoulder. "Every team leader has to pick a successor. It's my third year; I needed someone like you. And Ellie refused me every time. When this is over, I'm recommending you to be the new Paragon team leader."

_If we get out of this,_ I thought automatically. Kayce looked up at me from across the room, and then her eyes became steel, and she nodded to me.

"Then I'll do my best to make sure we _all_ get out of this," she said firmly. Kayce seemed to relax slightly. "I know the risks to this; you all know the risks. But this has gone on far enough. Bishop has to be stopped, and we're the only ones who can do it. We can't rely on anyone from the outside until we get that barrier down. That's our target; the barrier. Once that comes down, it's a straight shot out of this campus, so we need to make sure it won't be repaired any time soon. It needs to be destroyed." Kayce started to pace. Walking always helped her to think. "We're only students—kids, for heaven's sake—but we need to stand and defend everyone like adults. The life of a teenager is the hardest; adults expect us to act like adults, but they insist on treating us like children. I guess now, we act like really brave adults or stupid kids." She stopped pacing. "Any of us could die here. Lots of us have. But I'll be _damned_ if we don't _try_ to survive this rather than crawl into a corner, trying to pretend we don't exist. We won't surrender. We won't back down. And there's no way in hell that we'll lose if we stand together, work together, and trust in each other." She hefted her rifle onto her shoulder. "No matter how this goes, we will be remembered. All of us, from the living to the dead. We. Will. Be. Remembered. Now, let's move-out!"

I could see smiles on a few of the faces around me. Vi was smiling too. "Who woulda known?" she wondered aloud. "Kayce's finally growing up."

Kayce, Mina and Ellie led us outside the hospital to the edge of town, where a few townspeople and students were gathered. A truck was waiting there too, and it looked like they'd done their best to plate it with any leftover metal they could find. Kayce, Violet, Victoria, Julian, Greg and Nicholas jumped into the back of the truck while Mina, Ellie, Nathan and I squished into the front.

"Okay kiddies," Mina said, putting the truck into gear, "I'm drivin'!"

I didn't argue. She was probably the only one with a license anyway.

"Deactivate the barrier!" I heard Kayce yell.

Mina hit the gas and the truck lurched forward. The barrier was removed just in time as we went through. We were finally on our way. We were gonna attack Bishop.

_**Kayce Grey**_

__The ride was way past insanely bumpy, but we managed not to fall out by holding onto each other's arms. By the time we passed through the forest, the ride was much smoother.

"Are your asses numb?" Mina yelled from the window.

"Definitely!" I yelled back, but Mina knew I was joking.

We hit another bump, and we almost fell out the back. Nicholas pulled me back from the edge quickly.

"Thanks!" I yelled to him over the sound of the engine.

He nodded. He probably didn't want to waste his voice by yelling, anyway.

Mina poked her head out of the window. "Guys! We've got tails!"

I looked back and saw a few kids flying at us, while some others were beast Conduits like Nicholas, coming at us fast.

"Open fire!" I ordered. "If you can, wound them!"

"Got it!"

We opened fire. The bullets were wild at first, but as we got used to the guns the shots became more precise. The kids who had wings we made sure to graze 'em. Any beast Conduits got too close and we'd hit them with our guns as they'd jump at us.

A few times we'd been wounded, but we were still staying strong as we got closer to the main hall. None of us wanted to start complaining while we were so close.

Finally, Mina stopped the truck. We all hopped out, half expecting another wave of students to come at us, but there was no one.

"Creepy…" Mina grumbled. "Well, what's our next move?"

"We need to find any faculty that still may be alive," I suggested. "Our main goal is the barrier, but we need to find survivors as well. That's why I'm dividing us into two teams. Julian, Ellie, Nicholas and I will be looking for Bishop. Everyone else will look for any faculty survivors." I heard no objections. "I know I said this was a suicide mission, but…" Remembering at least twenty corny movies I'd seen, I put my hand in front of me. "Everyone, come back! Don't ever give up!"

Vi snickered, but put her hand on top of mine. "Got it, Kay."

Trish was next. "I promise."

Nicholas. "I'll never give up."

Mina. "Not a problem, kiddo."

Ellie. "They'll only ever get me kickin' and screamin'."

Victoria. "I'll give 'em a taste of six-inch heels."

Julian. "I'm not about to let anyone down."

Nathan. "Let's give 'em hell!"

Greg. "For everyone."

I looked at everyone's faces. We knew we were kids. We knew we were doing something crazy and reckless, but we were the only ones who could. The determination on their faces was enough to make me smile.

"I don't wanna leave any roses on any graves," I said honestly. "Keep your promises."

They nodded sharply, and then we parted ways. It was time.

The fight was about to end.


	19. The Barrier

Chapter Eighteen:

The Barrier

My life has been Hell, Hell, Hell. I remembered that quote as we snuck around the massive school, looking out for any rogue students. I had to admit that, before this, I loved my life. I knew I complained a lot, but my life probably couldn't get any better. I missed the simple things, like mom or dad driving me to school. I missed Jace coming into my room and pranking me by taping saran wrap around my door.

I'd forgotten who'd said the quote, and I didn't know why it was popping into my head, but it suddenly felt like I wasn't the only one suffering through this. There was everyone else, those with me then and those still back at town, hoping and praying for our success.

Speaking of success, I'd been wondering where all the students were. The ones against us. Except for when they'd chased us when we were in the truck, there was no sign of them.

"What the hell's going on...?" Julian muttered. I'd never really known him before now. He was a second-year, who'd been close with Bishop before all this happened. But he was trustworthy and loyal, and someone I could trust easily.

"I dunno," I admitted. "I thought that there'd be at least a few students patrolling."

Nicholas poked his head around a corner and gazed down the hallway. "Clear," he whispered. "We can take the staircase up. James is either in the principal's room, or he's with the barrier. Both of them're upstairs."

I nodded. "Okay, let's go!"

_**Trish MacGrath**_

__Mina led us through the cellar of the school with a grim determination on her face. She really did look like a leader then, and it felt like we'd be safe as long as she was with us. It was similar to the feeling Kayce had radiated when we'd said our good-bye's, promising to see each other again.

Mina halted us and peeked around a corner. She then signalled for us to back-up, and frowned.

"Three people ahead," she warned us quietly. "There may be more though. And the faculty're tied up here. We have to be quick, but we have to be quiet. We don't wanna get to the truck without everyone else."

Everyone nodded. Vi and I exchanged glances, smiling to reassure each other. Mina hefted two pistols up and readied to fire while everyone else got ready as well.

"Go!" Mina whispered hoarsely.

We jumped out of cover and opened fire. I tried not to look at the students while I pulled the trigger on my assault rifle, but I didn't want to hit any of the teachers. I tried to clear from my mind the image of one of the students falling flat on his back as my bullets carved through her body, but there was no avail. I'd just killed someone.

_**Kayce Grey**_

__We hurried up the steps until we reached the principal's office. Hoping for the element of surprise, we burst in and held our guns at the ready. No one was inside.

"Damn!" I swore. "He probably _is_ at the barrier!"

Julian took a few steps in the principal's office, probably checking around just-in-case we were missing him.

"I don't see anything," he announced. Julian was striding back to us when he suddenly hit the floor, face-first. I would have laughed, but then I saw the girl on his back.

"Boo," she said, a smirk finding its way to her lips.

Nicholas was the first to react by running over. He looked like he was going to tackle her, but she flipped overtop of him, grabbed his shoulders and launched him back at us. We just barely managed to avoid Nicholas, who slammed into the wall enough for it to break.

I got a clear look at this girl, once Julian had hurried over to us. She looked deranged or insane, and had all sorts of wires and tubes attached to her body. She looked like she'd been experimented on.

She cackled and lunged at us. We opened fire, but somehow she managed to dodge our bullets. Ellie charged forward then at a speed I'd never seen before. That must have been her power.

Ellie matched the girl's speed as they fought, sometimes too fast for us to follow. We ceased fire for fear of hitting Ellie rather than the deranged girl who she was fighting. Ellie finally kicked the girl hard enough to send her through the window.

"GO!" she yelled at us. "I'll cover!"

Julian jumped forward with Ellie. A back-up plan, just-in-case.

We sprinted to the room where we believed the barrier to be. Hopefully, if the students were hiding from us, we wouldn't have given away our position.

_**Trish MacGrath**_

__I moved to the body of the person I'd just killed. Elise Fitzpatrick. She'd been my enemy from day one of my school life at the Conduit Academy. She'd lost me friends, spread rumours about me, and bullied me, even though she knew I would defend myself.

And I'd just killed 'er.

Mina cut the ropes of the surviving faculty and started to escort them outside. And then he hand was suddenly on my shoulder.

"Trish? Trish, are you okay?" she asked softly.

I hadn't even realized that I'd been crying. It felt so surreal. I'd just taken a life. Was all that Elise had done in her life for nothing? Her life had just ended as easily as you would shut off a TV. She was gone forever.

"C'mon, let's get outta here," Mina said as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leading me out of the cellar.

Vi was holding her gun tightly enough to make her knuckles white. She was thinking the exact same thing as I was. We'd both took the killing shot that day.

The few faculty who'd survived were Ms. Thatcher, the VP; Mr. Wallace, the principal; and Mr. Nelson. They told us that they were the only ones. Everyone else had been taken away to be executed, one-by-one.

I cringed at the thought. Was this what we'd have to face from bad guys once we'd graduated? Would one of the villains be a former classmate? I couldn't bear the thought of having to kill anyone else.

"There's a truck near the cellar," Mina said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You have to get there and be quiet about it. Those three were the only ones we've encountered here, and I don't like it."

_**Kayce Grey**_

__Learning from our mistakes, this time we opened the door quietly and surveyed the area. It was just me and Nicholas now. I hoped that Julian and Ellie would be okay.

Nicholas gently nudged me away from the door and poked his head in, followed by his assault rifle, and then he disappeared behind it. I followed him, watching my step through the darkness.

The room smelt disgusting and nearly made me throw-up just by how overwhelming it was. I saw Nicholas' form and followed him, step by step, so we wouldn't be separated.

"Finally," came a voice from the darkness. "I was beginning to think you were all too cowardly to fight me."

_Bishop._ I gripped my gun tighter to stop from yelling my heart out at him. I could see Nicholas tense as he was doing the same.

"A dog and his mistress, finally come to see me." Bishop appeared from behind a large, glowing column of light. It was the barrier. We'd found it, and we'd found Bishop. "It's the way things should be."

Bishop looked distorted, somehow. It was like something was moving beneath his flesh. I rubbed my eyes ferociously, hoping that Bishop wasn't making me hallucinate.

"Kayce, I'm going to give you this last chance," he said. "Join me. Help me destroy the things that hold this world back."

"Screw you!" I spat. "I'll never forgive you for what you've done here!"

Bishop looked downcast. "I'd hoped you'd join me willingly. I hate to force people. Why do you think I had Victoria Stafford recruiting people to my cause? Sad that she turned against me. She didn't want the gift I offered. But you have my gift, Kayce. You have no choice."

_What?_ Bishop, without waiting any longer, turned on a light. All around Nicholas and I were bodies—bodies of the kids in his army. Some had been dead longer than others, and some were in odd positions that didn't seem possible for the Human body.

"You have no choice, Kayce," Bishop repeated. "You're one of the only ones whose body accepted my gift. You're mine."

"Like hell I am you son of a—!" My body suddenly felt weak, and I had to struggle to stay on my feet.

"What're you doing?" Nicholas roared. "Stop it, James! Stop it!"

"Kayce, kill the dog," Bishop said. "Kill him now."

_**Trish MacGrath**_

__The faculty were waiting in the back of the truck with Victoria, Vi and me. Victoria had sighed for about the fifth time before Vi finally asked her what was wrong. I admit; I'd never seen someone who looked like they were in such turmoil.

"Most of this is my fault," she answered quietly. "I thought that everything was unfair. I believed in what Bishop told me, and I... I recruited more than half of the kids for his cause. Their deaths are on my hands."

I was surprised at first, mostly because she admitted it so readily, but then it gave way to understanding. Victoria was feeling the death of every student, knowing that it was her fault. What caused her to open her eyes then? How did she find out what Bishop really was?

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this..." Victoria hung her head. I got up and moved to sit beside her, and then wrapped an arm around her shoulder like Mina had done with me.

"If we didn't do wrongs, we wouldn't know what was right," I said. "My dad taught me that. My mom lived it. And now I understand it better. You should too. It's not your fault, Vic. They joined, and they didn't see what was really going on. It was their responsibility."

Victoria sighed, but nodded. Suddenly, a large flash of blue light came from one of the windows at the top floor. The barrier rippled, but it didn't go down.

"The barrier..." Mr. Nelson murmured. "What happened?"

"Kayce, Nicholas, Julian and Ellie're going after Bishop and the barrier," Vi told them. "If they succeed, we can get out of here."

Ms. Thatcher put her head in her hands. "Dear God... Why did we not see this?"

"We made a mistake," Mr. Wallace said. "We did what every other teacher does. We expected these teenagers to act like adults, but we treated them as children. It must have driven at least one of them to do this."

The barrier rippled again. I found myself crossing my fingers for Kayce and everyone. I hoped they were all right.


	20. Last Moments

Chapter Nineteen:

Last Moments

_**Kayce Grey**_

__I woke up, groggy and disoriented. My hands felt wet, and I was sure some of my armour was broken. I looked up off of the floor and saw my assault rifle lodged in the barrier. _If only I could get there and pull the trigger..._

The minute I moved, a foot slammed onto my hand. I cried out in pain, too weak to do anything else.

"I'd hoped that you'd be mine for a little longer, but you're more stubborn than I thought," Bishop said, distaste evident in his voice. "But that doesn't really matter. You put the dog down. That's what I cared about."

My eyes widened. _Nick? Nick, what happened to Nick? Why don't I remember how I got onto the damn floor?_

Bishop got off of my hand and kicked one of the bodies, which groaned painfully in response. "Still alive? You're resilient, I'll give you that."

My eyes adjusted to the darkness again. Nicholas was slumped against the wall, had a pole through his chest, and he was covered in blood. I knew enough about the Human body to know that the pole had gone through his lung.

Nicholas coughed up some blood and weakly grabbed onto Bishop's shirt. Bishop kicked Nicholas' stomach, forcing Nicholas to let go and wheeze whatever breaths he could muster.

"You'll be dead soon, anyway. I wanted to see you suffer. You stole from me what I deserved. Because I was born to a woman our father wasn't married to, I was shunned. I _deserved_ that birthright! You, little brother, have stolen it from me! But it doesn't matter; I'll take it for myself."

I clenched my fists and forced myself onto my knees. Bishop saw me and laughed, spewing insults and other things I didn't care about. I just needed to get to the damned assault rifle and end this.

I glowed blue, hoping my new powers wouldn't fail me. Bishop laughed more as I struggled to my feet.

"You're going to try anyway," he said. "You're going to try and—."

I ran at him, ignoring the burning pain in my body, and tackled him to the ground. I punched him, as hard and as fast as I could. I kept seeing him smile, and I wanted to get it off of his face.

I suddenly levitated him and launched him into a wall. I heard bones breaking, but I didn't stop. I didn't want to give him the chance to use his powers on me again. I heard Nick groan as he pulled the pipe from out of his body, which made me angrier. I didn't know what had happened. I didn't want to think that it was me who hurt him. It was all. Bishop's. Fault.

I slammed him to the ground and then put my boot on his throat. He struggled against the pressure, but to no avail. He tried to use his powers on me, but I focused on the only thing that seemed to matter at that moment; making Bishop suffer.

"P-Please...!" he finally choked. "Let... me go!"

I glared at him hatefully. Here he was, begging for his life, when so many before him had done the same. Nicholas had finally gotten that pole out of himself, so I used my powers to bring the blood-soaked pole to me.

I raised the pole above my head and looked at Bishop with nothing but the hatred for him I'd had since waking up in the hospital bed days ago. And immediately, I knew what I would do.

"No," I said to him. His eyes widened as I plunged the pole into his heart.

_**Trish MacGrath**_

__I saw a figure limping towards us. Well, not so much limping as hopping. I thought for a moment that it was Kayce, but I recognized the figure, and even though it made me happy to see her, I was disappointed that my first guess wasn't right.

"Mina! It's Ellie!" I exclaimed to her.

Mina leapt out of the truck and ran over to Ellie; her best friend, ever since Ellie had been a first-year, and Mina a second-year.

Ellie collapsed on the ground. I followed Mina over to her, and saw that Ellie was missing one of her legs. She'd literally hopped over to us on only one leg.

"Ellie! What happened?" Mina exclaimed.

Ellie wasn't breathing well. We helped Ellie onto her back and waited patiently for Ellie to answer.

"Julian... We fought one of Bishop's people..." Ellie's face contorted in pain. "Julian's dead... I lost my leg... Mina, I'm dying. There're more of her coming..."

"More of who?" I pressed.

At the same time, Mina yelled, "You're not dying! You're not dying, okay?"

Ellie chuckled. "She fought us... She was really strong... More are coming... Get out...!"

Mina clenched her fists. "Dammit, Ellie! We're not leaving you!"

"You have to! They're... coming!"

Mina pulled out a pistol and handed it to Ellie. "We'll both hold them off, then. We'll buy time for everyone else to get out."

"N-No! Mina—!"

"You're an idiot if you think I'm going to leave you behind," Mina said firmly. "And anyway, there's no one else waiting for me. My family's dead, Ellie. They've been dead for thirteen years. You're all I have left, and by God I'm not gonna let 'em have you without a fight!" Mina looked at me, the grim line of determination back on her face. "Get to the truck. If everyone's not back by the time whatever the things Ellie's telling about are here, then you drive, and you don't stop driving!"

_**Kayce Grey**_

__I limped over to Nicholas and fell down beside him. I held my side, which I'd realized was bleeding, and sighed contentedly.

"It's over," I told him. "Bishop's dead."

Nicholas' head lolled back and forth for a moment before he finally managed to nod. "He's dead... But there's still... one last thing..."

With an effort I'd never seen before, Nicholas stood up and made his way to the barrier, and my assault rifle. He clasped his hand around its grip, his finger on the trigger.

"When... I pull this..." he gasped. "It'll... end..."

I stood up and limped beside him. "Nick—."

"Go, Kayce..." Nicholas' eyes were hard as steel. "I... I can do this...!" My eyes, however, were leaking tears left right and centre. "Go. You... have family waiting... for you."

"But—!" _Nick, no! Don't do this!_

"I owe this... to everyone." Nick smiled at me one last time and gently kissed my lips. "I'll take a rain check... on that date, okay?"

I hugged him close to me, as tightly as I could without hurting him. "You'd better be there. I'll never forgive you if you're not!"

"Have I ever lied?" Nick smiled and held me just as tight before releasing me and pushing me towards the door. "Go, Kayce. Get out. Live."

I wiped my eyes and limped to the door, and then walked, and then ran, with everything I had left. I ran past Julian's body, I ran past Mr. Nelson's History class, and I ran out the doors we came in. It wasn't far from Mina and Ellie that I collapsed from pain, both of body and mind.

Time passed relatively slowly then. I didn't understand why Vi and Trish were lifting me into the back of the truck and leaving Mina and Ellie behind. They smiled at me, and despite the blood and dirt that covered them, I remembered the first time they'd smiled at me. I saw Mr. Nelson and remembered his lessons. I saw Ms. Thatcher and Mr. Wallace, and remembered their warm welcome to the school. And then I saw Nicholas as he brushed past me to go onto the stage, his cloudy-grey eyes boring into mine, his laugh and his smile, and the look he gave me when he told me to run. When he told me to leave him.

I couldn't pretend that I was strong anymore. I started to cry as we drove off. Mina and Ellie's shouts were heard as they fired against an enemy I couldn't see. I was lying on my back, looking up at the sky and the barrier. Suddenly, there was a huge flash of light, and the barrier started to disintegrate. I cried harder as I realized that our rain check would have to wait until I was dead.

There was relief all around the truck as the barrier fell. The survivors cheered, and I could hear as we went past the town the praises they sent us. I didn't feel like a hero in the least.

Of the survivors, I was the only one who was still afraid. I was the only one who was balling my eyes out in self-pity, wondering if there was anything else I could have done. Wondering if I could have saved just one more life, rather than leaving three people to die.

The only one who was afraid... was me.

Even as I was hefted by helicopter to the nearest hospital, I still felt nothing for what I'd done. What had I done? I most likely killed Nicholas. I killed Bishop. I killed students. I left people to die. I was a murderer. I was a renegade to society.

_**Joan Grey**_

_"Four weeks after the deadly terrorist attack on the Conduit Academy, workers have begun to repair the school. After reporting-in with many of the survivors, they seem to be healing, though, after what they'd gone through, it will undoubtedly take some more time. And now, onto sports—."_

I shut the TV off and place my eyes at the heel of my hands, rubbing them furiously. Three weeks ago, Kayce had been released from the hospital. Since then, she'd barely said a word. She rarely ate, rarely slept for fear of the nightmares, and only seemed capable of drawing.

I wondered what I could do. Her friends had been buried. Some students who'd been there came and thanked her for saving their lives. The same went with Trish, and Violet. And yet, Kayce was in a depression so deep, I was afraid that she'd never be happy again.

Before Lance had gone to work, he'd told me that it'd take a lot of time. She wouldn't magically be all right overnight.

I'd hoped that it was the case. I hated waiting. I didn't know what to do. I felt powerless all over again.

Jace visited with Kayce the most, sometimes helping her with her drawings, sometimes trying to get her to play his games. It rarely worked, but he was trying so much harder than I was. He was just as persistent as his father was.

I laid down on the couch and sighed. Kayce would recover. And when she did, I would tell her all about me, and how I became a Conduit. I smiled as I remembered the false story I'd handed to _MARVEL Comics_, wanting to tell Kayce and Jace about me myself, rather than them having to learn it from a comic book.

Jace lumbered down the steps and poured himself a glass of orange juice. "She's drawing again," he said as he sat down beside me.

I sat up. "Not really a surprise."

"She told me that a friend of hers was drawing when they'd first met," Jace continued. "I think it's helping her out a bit."

"I hope so."

Jace smiled at me. "Don't worry, mom. She'll come around. Kayce's just as stubborn as you are."

As much as an insult it was, I took it as a compliment.


	21. Epilogue

Epilogue

Inside of a bank in New Marias, three men quickly grabbed the sacks of money that they'd forced the bank's workers to put together for them.

"C'mon!" one of them men said. "Hurry up! Before those damned Conduits_—_!"

He suddenly was silenced by a figure who slammed into him and sent him flying behind the counter. Moving quickly in dark clothing, the figure leapt high into the air to avoid a shotgun blast, and then slammed their foot into the second man's face. The third man got behind the figure and started to choke them with his shotgun, but the figure kicked out their leg and hit him in the groin. The third man cried out and released his shotgun, and before he could back away the figure ducked low and swept their leg around, effectively using enough force to break his leg.

The figure held out their two hands and lifted the three shotguns from the ground, a blue aura surrounding both the guns and the figure.

"_What_ about 'those damned Conduits'?" Kayce Grey asked. "I'm sorry; I attacked you before you could finish your sentence." Kayce levelled one of the shotguns at the first man's face. "D'you wanna finish it?" she continued darkly.

The man shook his head quickly. "N-No!"

"Good." Kayce brought the gun away from his face, but kept it pointed at him. "You guys're lucky that it's me you're dealing with, and not my mother. She'd give you third-degree burns just by _lookin'_ at you."

The men gulped all at once. Kayce did all she could to continue to look like a threatening badass without bursting into laughter at them. It didn't take long, but when the police arrived, Kayce was already late.

Letting the cops take over, she waved to the few she knew (through her mother, of course) and flew off to the west. It wasn't far; a few hours by train, but only half an hour by flight, at the speed she was going. She felt relief that the government had gotten rid of that stupid barrier that caused nothing but trouble. The government was content that, without a barrier, the students could defend themselves.

It had taken a few months, but when everyone went back to school at the new school year, they had to take the classes that they'd missed the previous year during Bishop's Reign, as they were calling it. Everything, and everyone, eventually went back to normal. The wounds were gone, but there were scars. But everyone helped out, acting as a bandage with each other.

Kayce's phone suddenly rang. Slowing down slightly, Kayce reached into her trenchcoat's pocket (one that she was using the night before and absently grabbed it in the morning) and pressed the "Talk" button.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Where the hell are you?" Violet Chance screeched at her, making Kayce pull the phone away from her ear. "It's almost started! Hurry your ass up!"

"Well, sorry that I had to stop a bank robbery with hostages. Next time, I'll ask 'em to postpone it so I can get there on time. You know thugs; they're so accommodating."

"Haha, smartass." Vi groaned. "Hurry! Your mom just got here, and she's got your thingy!"

"It's not a 'thingy'! It's a_—_!"

"Whatever!" Vi interrupted swiftly. "Get. Your. Ass. Here."

"I'll go as fast as I can," Kayce promised, and disconnected.

Speeding up (and taking care to put her phone in her pocket), Kayce rushed to the Conduit Academy and managed to land without any problems.

Well, until Victoria landed on top of her.

Digging her six-inch heels into Kayce's shoulders, Victoria flipped and landed in front of Kayce.

"Oh, sorry," she said, flashing Kayce a smile. "I jumped here, and you landed exactly were I was going."

Rubbing her shoulders vigorously, Kayce bit back a pained cry, and instead spoke in an unnaturally high voice. "N-No! It's fine! It didn't hurt at all!"

"You're a damn bad liar, Kayce." Victoria smiled. "I'm just glad I'm not the only one whose almost late. C'mon; we've got to go change!"

Victoria and Kayce rushed towards the main yard of the campus to join with the crowd that was gathering (though Kayce didn't know how Victoria could run so well in those monstrosities).

Kayce finally found her mother, Joan Grey, who handed her the blue robe and squared hat. "Get changed!" Joan chided, and pushed Kayce towards the dorms. "And hurry your ass up!"

"Got it!" Kayce exclaimed, running towards the dorms.

As soon as Kayce opened the door, Vi launched herself at her cousin. "You're late, dammit!"

"I _know_! Everyone's telling me that!"

"Then get your ass changed!"

"Then stop stopping me from changing!"

After she threw the huge gown/robe over her head and jammed the rectangular hat on after it, Kayce hurried down the steps and joined Victoria and Violet, who were already lining up.

Vi directed Kayce to her place (since Kayce was late and didn't hear the order) and then hurried back, sending Kayce a nervous but excited smile.

Kayce, as she was waiting, reflected on the years that had passed. Now, she was eighteen years old, and attending the school that had nearly killed her. It had already taken so many of her friends. It seemed wrong that she hadn't joined them.

_"I don't wanna leave any roses on any graves. Keep your promises."_

A few hadn't been able to. Kayce remembered when she'd attended their funerals, a scant week after their nightmare was finally over. There wasn't anything left of Nicholas, even to bury.

_"Nicholas Jeremy Young XIII."_

_ "Seriously?"_

_ "No. My middle name isn't Jeremy. It's Atticus. Okay, your name!"_

_ "Kayce Joanna Grey. The first."_

Kayce smiled at the memory as they started forward. She'd learned, over the years, not to ignore what had happened, but to learn from it. Embrace it. It was a part of all of the students now. New and old.

_"I was a little disappointed, at first. I was hoping for a few more Paragons this year, but... You'll do."_

She felt bad that Mina never got to graduate, but she managed to leave with a smile, helping people, like she always did. It was what had made her a leader, and a damn good one at that. One to be rivalled for decades to come.

_"But those people had better be damn good and come through for the team. I'm not gonna be happy about any more losses to the Sojourns! So, we'll call you up one-by-one and see what you got. Anyone who doesn't make it up to snuff will be cut immediately. Afterwards, those of you still remaining will go one-on-one with me. We'll see how long you last. And no powers! This entire season of basketball is clean. If you use powers, you'll be cut! I don't care how good you are! Got it?"_

Ellie was exactly what Kayce's mother had said people like her were; tough but fair. Kayce remembered how she'd felt when she met both Mina and Ellie; they were people you wanted to follow and trust, because you knew they'd watch over you. They'd help you, they'd be family to you, in a way your family could never be.

It took Kayce a minute to register that they were already at the stage, and Violet had just been called up. Mr. Wallace handed Vi a scroll and then shook her hand firmly for a picture. She was soon followed by Victoria, and then Stephanie Wallace (who, as it turned out, actually didn't have any relation to Mr. Wallace at all).

And then it was Kayce's turn. After everything, it seemed eclipsed by what had happened two years ago. Graduation almost meant nothing to Kayce, but she was determined to enjoy it, if not for herself, but for the people who hadn't made it that far.

Kayce shook Mr. Wallace's hand as she took the scroll from him, giving him the trademark smile she'd been known for; a simple smile, but one you could trust. Kayce, after the incident of Bishop's Reign, had returned to the Conduit Academy as Mina and Ellie's successor. She became the captain of the Paragon basketball team and the Paragon team leader, as the survivors of the suicide mission had backed-up Kayce's claim to the title. They trusted her, more than anything.

Mr. Wallace held Kayce's hand for a moment longer. The old man seemed close to tears, but he forced them back and clapped a hand on Kayce's shoulder. All of a sudden, Kayce heard someone start clapping. And then someone else joined in. And then more.

Kayce was confused at first as she looked at the crowd of people who started to stand as they clapped. She recognized them; some were students who'd stayed behind on the suicide mission, some were parents of the survivors, some parents of the dead, and others were everyone else who'd come to see the last generation of the Bishop's Reign renegades.

In fact, when Kayce had returned to school the following year, that was what the survivors had dubbed her, and they'd convinced the first-years to call her that as well: Renegade, the Paragon team leader.

The clapping didn't stop. Kaye turned and saw her fellow graduates clapping as well, each one smiling at her. She felt out of place, but so she wouldn't feel bad about the applause she was getting, Kayce directed most of the clapping towards the memory of her fallen friends; those she'd known, and those who she hadn't.

Kayce left the stage and sat beside Vi. The clapping finally died down, and the graduation continued. Afterwards, Kayce hugged her parents and held them close. Lance Grey kissed his daughter's head and then said how proud he was of her, followed by Joan arguing that she was prouder.

Trish, who had graduated the previous year, gave Kayce and Vi a big hug before Alec and Dana Chance could get to them, but as soon as Trish released the two Alec and Dana swooped in. Over the course of the ceremony, honorary diplomas were given to the parents of the fallen, even if they were part of Bishop's Reign.

The party that night lasted into the wee hours of the morning. Kayce eventually found herself leaving it for some fresh air. She didn't feel right celebrating it without the people she missed the most.

"You're Kayce Grey?" a man asked as he stepped out of the shadows.

Kayce stared at him as he approached. The man was dressed well, in a grey suit with a blue shirt and black tie, but it was his cloudy-grey eyes that captivated her and rooted her to the spot. His black hair was smoothed back for the occasion.

_Nicholas?_ Kayce thought automatically, but as the man came closer, it was evident that he was much older than her friend.

"Yes," Kayce answered him when it became apparent that he was waiting for one. "I am."

"My name is Nicholas Atticus Young XII," he announced. "Your friend, Nicholas, was my son."

Kayce closed her eyes to stop the onslaught of tears that were certain to come. "Hello, sir."

He held up a hand. "Please, don't be formal with me. I have no right to be called that by you."

"But_—_!"

His hand stayed up, so Kayce shut her mouth. "I saw you once," Mr. Young said, "at Nicholas and James' funerals. I heard what you said then, even though your voice was barely above a whisper when you said it. You felt guilty for their deaths. Not so much James', I'm sure, but Nicholas'."

Kayce hung her head. "I killed them. I killed them both. I didn't mean to hurt Nicholas, but his blood was still on my hands." She paused for a moment. "His blood still is."

Mr. Young put a hand on her shoulder. "Miss Grey, you took my sons from me."

She nodded. "I did. I'm... I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Kayce looked up at Mr. Young. He was looking over the campus, not at her, but it was like she was still the centre of his attention. "James needed to be stopped. As his father, that was my responsibility, but I let you, a sixteen-year-old, take that responsibility. I should have been a better father to him." He stopped. He seemed to be pondering his words just as much as Kayce. "As for Nicholas... even if he'd survived, you would have taken him from me eventually. Nicholas was smart_—_he found a way to mail something to me, just a week before James took control. I couldn't give it to you at his funeral. It seemed like something for another time." Mr. Young handed me an envelope, but continued just as quickly. "Nicholas' death was not caused by you. You were being used as a weapon. Nicholas' death is on James' hands. I have no question of that. So, I came to offer you my hand in gratitude, Miss Grey. If you need anything_—absolutely anything—_call me, and I will hasten to your aid. You helped my sons, despite what's happened. I can never repay you for such kindness."

Before Kayce could say anything, Mr. Young left. _Kindness?_ she thought with doubt. _There was no kindness there. I killed Bishop in cold blood. It was my hands that killed Nicholas, even though I don't remember it._

Kayce examined the envelope with her fingers before she opened it. Inside was a letter; a letter from Nicholas to his father. Kayce read it in silence. It seemed that Nicholas was close to his father, despite how he'd said they disagreed sometimes, and he'd never kept a secret from his father. They trusted each other unconditionally.

_"Hey dad._

_ Before you say anything, yes, I did sneak this letter out. It's done now, and I'm sure you appreciate it and you won't punish me for bending the rules (at least, I hope not!). School's fine. I like it a lot. James hasn't done anything yet, so I'm hoping that this year will be fine._

_ "I especially like History class. I know you're wondering why, because I'm the absolute worst when it comes to remembering who did what (I thought Hitler was an architect for the longest time!), and you're undoubtedly confused._

_ "Well, not to brag, but I met someone._

_ "I know that you said it'd be best if I met a nice, non-superpowered girl close to home, but I can't help it. I thought I should let you know, since I'm going to ask if she wants to spend Christmas with us. I was hoping to invite her family. I know I'm jumping the gun a bit, but I'm hoping that she'll say yes (and I hope you'll agree)._

_ "Her name's Kayce Joanna Grey. She was born and raised in New Marias, and yes, before you ask, she _is_ Lance and Joan Grey's only daughter. She's spectacular, dad. A lot like when you were describing mom to me the time you'd first met her. _

_ "I want to be friends with her first, though. So, even if it doesn't work out, I want to be with her._

_ "I've included, in this letter, a drawing I made in History class while watching her. I'm actually surprised she'd only mentioned it once, when we'd first met. It wasn't even finished then. No judging, dad! Send it back as soon as you can, too. I want to give it to her later, but I just thought you should see her, since it's hard to get digital things out of this damned barrier._

"_Your son,_

_Nicholas."_

Kayce read the note again and then fished out the other piece of paper in the envelope. She closed her eyes after she saw it and leaned her head into it. It was her, sitting in her desk, in History class. There was a pencil in her hand, and her head was resting on her chin thoughtfully, but you could see one of her eyes.

Kayce folded it up again, and noticed one more piece of paper. On it, it read: _"Something extra I found for you."_ It was signed, _"XII."_

She opened it up and found another drawing, but this seemed to be something that Nicholas had drawn in his free time. It had her and Nicholas, both were laughing, and they were under the shade of a tree, pencils and notebooks in hand. Kayce folded the paper, forcing back the tears caused by opened scars, and looked towards that tree that they'd been under two years ago. In a sparkling white outline, she was more than surprised to see a young man with black hair, dressed in a black suit with the tie untied around his neck, and a few buttons on his white shirt undone. His cloudy-grey eyes rooted Kayce to the spot, just like his father's had. Behind him, other spectres started to appear. Mina Dain, in an orange gown; Ellie Donovan, a purple gown adorning her shoulders; and Julian Reynolds, a black tux done-up right.

Nicholas Atticus Young XIII walked, or, rather, floated towards Kayce Grey. He put a hand on her head, whispered some words to her, kissed her cheek, and then disappeared. This time, for good.

The next day, Kayce was more cheerful than previous days. She surprised many people, who were used to seeing the sad husk that she'd been after Bishop's Reign. She was, once again, Kayce Grey.

She would remember the words that Nicholas had said to her. Even if his image, and the images of her friends, had been her imagination, she'd remember.

_ "Live, Kayce. Live as well as you can for as long as you can. Don't worry; we're waiting for you."_

"_**Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come." ― Rabindranath Tagore**_


	22. Author's Notes

Author's Notes

Holy-_friggin'_-kamolie. That took a while! And I feel bad. Either way, the last _inFAMOUS_ story about the MacGrath/Grey family is finished, and with a (hopefully) satisfying end.

_**Story Theme: Hurricane**__**―30 Seconds to Mars**_

I know it took a long time, and it's my fault for that, but I'm sure a lot of you know the stress of final exams. I can't wait for the summer; can you believe it's been more than a year since my first fan-fic came out on this site? I feel lucky to have so many viewers and people to review my work. It helps me all the time.

I would definitely like to thank _**ShadowJ95**_, _**midnightwriter95**_, _**Infinite-Bit**_, _**The High Lord of Terra**_, _**Thedarkstorm**_, and _**Bunsididly the Pant**_ for reviewing and staying with me throughout most of the series, who always gave me feedback. Thank-you guys very much!

Now, as the polls have decided, my next work will be _The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim_. I've been planning for it as much as I could, and made at least forty characters on the game itself to get everything right. If I'm not finished it by the time _Assassin's Creed III_ comes out (which I highly doubt because summer's right around the corner), I'm dropping it and working on _Assassin's Creed III_, and then picking it up after I'm done that.

Also, I've started an account on fan-fic's sister site fic-press (I don't want to put the full name on because it sometimes sees it as a link, and then it'll disappear when I post this), and started my own story. If you're interested, it's called "The Game", and it's under the same author's name as I have here to reduce confusion.

Thank-you very much for reading, and get ready for _The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim_!


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